REPORTS that a bogus school taxi driver may have tried to pick up a disabled teenager outside a North-East comprehensive school are being investigated by police.

The 15-year-old girl is still upset and frightened after being approached outside Willington Parkside School, County Durham, on Friday afternoon.

Her mother said yesterday that the girl was determined to attend lessons as usual this morning, even though she had not been able to sleep.

As police appealed for help last night, they praised the girl for her refusal to get into a stranger's car.

She told officers that a man in a dark green Ford Mondeo had turned up at school before her regular taxi driver.

Her mother said: "Fortunately, she refused or I don't know what would have happened. But she is very upset and is dreading going back to school. We are worried in case somebody has been watching her."

Inspector Graham Hall, of Crook police, said the girl had acted sensibly. He said: "She did exactly the right thing. She refused to get into a car with somebody she did not know and waited for her regular driver.

"We would like to hear from anybody who was in the area at the time or who can shed some light on this."

The driver was described as in his late 20s, 5ft 6in, slim, with shaved or cropped black hair. He was clean shaven with a pock-marked face and wore black trousers, a black T-shirt with a brown motif on the front and khaki trainers.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crook police on (01388) 762011.