POLICE have stepped up a search for a pervert motorist who has tried to lure children into his vehicle.

After warning youngsters to be on their guard against a driver who invited a 14-year-old girl to get in his car in Hartlepool, police have received reports of three other incidents across the town.

The fat, balding middle-aged man, who has grey hair and a grey moustache, has also approached a ten-year-old girl, a 13-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl.

He drove past the 14-year-old as she walked to school along Dunston Road on Monday morning, and he tried to abduct the other girls in the town's Valley Drive, Park Avenue and Clifton Avenue this week.

He drives a white or silver van or estate car.

Police have asked anyone who is approached to call them and warned girls not to get into cars with people they do not know.

There were six reported attempts to abduct children by men driving white vans in Darlington this month.

Anyone with information about the Hartlepool incidents is asked to call police on (01642) 302126.