A MOTHER has told of her shock after a stranger attempted to grab her baby from her in a York street.

Max Rodgers was returning from a bike ride with her partner and children in the Navigation Road area of the city when the incident occurred.

As her partner stopped with the two older children, Miss Rodgers began to fold down the pushchair containing their three-month old daughter next to their car, when a man, said to be of Asian appearance, took hold of the detached car seat.

She said: “I unclipped the car seat and felt it being pulled from behind me. I turned, thinking it was my partner, but it was another man.

“We’re a bit shellshocked about the whole thing, we’ve got no idea what it was about.

“At first, I thought it was a man trying to help me with the car seat, then he tried pulling it away from me.

“There were two men and a woman – the others were just stood there.

“It was a tug of war, I ended up screaming in his face to let go and my partner came up the street to help, then they turned and walked off.”

Miss Rodgers said the man holding her daughter’s car seat was speaking in a language she could not understand, but despite her pleas, did not let go of the seat.

She said: “Part of me wondered if he was trying to help but the ferociousness of him trying to pull the car seat out of my hand - he was really shaking it about.

“My knuckles must have been white.

“I was screaming for my partner, then he let go and took a step back.”

Miss Rodgers and her partner took the children home and put them to bed, then called the police to report the incident, which happened on Friday, July 15. Officers arrived within minutes, and a patrol was sent around the area but the three people were not found.

A North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said it was possible the man had been trying to help, but urged anyone who has experienced similar incidents to contact them on 101.

She said: “Child abduction is very rare in North Yorkshire and particularly so in relation to incidents involving strangers.

“Regardless of the circumstances, North Yorkshire Police takes all reported child abduction and attempted child abduction incidents extremely seriously.

“This includes seemingly suspicious incidents that are reported to the police which often, following investigation, turn out to be an innocent mistake or misunderstanding.”