POLICE investigating allegations of an attempted child snatch at a car boot sale say it was in fact a “misunderstanding”.

Officers were called to the Allington Lane car boot sale in Horton Heath near Fair Oak at about midday on July 22 after the mother of an 18-month-old child called police.

The 27-year-old had believed the man had attempted to take her son, who was in a buggy, and then preventing him leaving the sale in his car.

However when police arrived and questioned both the man and other people at the scene they decided to take no further action.

Members of the public then circulated accounts of the incident on social media.

A spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said: “Police were called to attend Allington Lane car boot sale shortly after midday on July 22 following reports of a suspicious incident involving a child.

“Officers attended and spoke to the informant and several other witnesses. They also spoke to a man accused of trying to take a child.

“Once everyone had been spoken to, it transpired that there had been a misunderstanding and no criminal offences were deemed to have taken place.”

It comes after a separate incident, where a mum believed her child was the subject of an abduction attempt, turned out not to have happened.