An urgent appeal has been launched in Britain following reports a boy was bundled into a van and abducted in Surrey.

The child, around six or seven, was seen being taken into the side of a black Volkswagen transporter with an 02 licence plate in Redhill at 4.43pm on Thursday.

A mountain bike believed to belong to the youngster was left behind at the scene of the feared abduction.

A Surrey Police spokesman said: "The suggestion is that they have gone into the side of the van."

Police said the van was a model with a sliding side door and no rear windows.

The van, which had no logo, is described as having three alloy wheels, with one front nearside missing.

The alloys were a BBS make. It had chrome sidesteps.

The boy is described as white and around 4ft, wearing a red T-shirt and navy blue jeans.

Superintendent Bex Smith, of Surrey Police, said: "This is an incident we are taking extremely seriously and are asking for anyone with any information regarding the child, the van or what happened to come forward."

"If you were in the area, perhaps commuting to or from Redhill train station at the time please get in touch with us if you saw anything suspicious."

"At this stage we are not ruling out a number of options, including whether the child and the person in the van know each other."

A National Police Air Service helicopter is assisting in the search.