A viral Facebook post warning parents of an attempted child abduction from a petrol station car park has been revealed to be a hoax.

Social media users had shared a photo of a poster warning people of an alleged child snatching incident at the Murco Service Station on Maidstone Road, Sutton Valence.

Despite it being shared more than 500 times the manager of the station said no crime had been reported.

The manager of the Murco garage said: “I have looked at the CCTV from that day and there is nothing.

“There have been no police around here and there isn’t anything on the CCTV matching the description of the van.

“It is either a hoax or something from a few years ago.”

Kent Police have confirmed they were not contacted regarding a possible kidnapping attempt of a child.