A NIGHT-TIME delivery driver tried to kidnap a young girl in his van as she walked through Hereford in the early hours, a jury was told.

Milkman David Watkins saw a man in a reflective jacket frisking her as if he was a policeman in a stop-and-search operation.

He then watched a scuffle break out as the girl, aged about 14, was held by the waist and forcefully moved towards the parcels van.

A second girl began kicking the vehicle and the man stopped what he was doing and drove off. He later told his firm that dents in the vehicle had been caused by a gang of yobs after he stopped in Hallow, near Worcester, to urinate.

Prosecutor Mark Wall said the milkman took down the van's registration number and the driver, Andrew Moran, was traced and arrested.

Moran, aged 31, of Ashworth Street, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, denies attempted kidnap.

Mr Wall told Worcester Crown Court that neither girl was traced by police.

The incident happened at around 4am outside the former Woodpecker Club in Ryland Street on April 3 last year.

Moran, who worked for ANC of Newcastle-under-Lyme at the time, said he was not in Hereford at 4am. But records showed he made a delivery at 3.40am.

Mr Watkins tried to find the girls but lost sight of them, then reported what he had seen to a policewoman on patrol.

The trial continues.