A SAFETY alert has been issued to parents after a man in a van attempted to coax a schoolgirl into his vehicle.

Parents at Noadswood School are being warned after the incident involving an man and a student at the school in Dibden Purlieu.

The man, described as a white male, approached a 14 year old girl in a blue van at 8.30am yesterday.

He asked her to get in his van so that he could take her to school.

Now bosses at the school have put parents on alert.

A statement on the school's Twitter said: "Please remind children of how they should keep themselves safe.

"Wherever possible children should avoid walking to and from school alone. Pupils are being reminded of stranger dangers in school today.

"This incident has been reported to the police"

The school issued a similar warning in October last year, when a 12-year-old student was approached by a man in a van.

School chiefs say the girl was on Forest Front at Butts Ash when a van driver approached her and asked to get inside.

Police at the time said they were treating the incident as "suspicious".