Terrifying ordeal for family at Druridge Bay

Jan 16 2009 by Dave Black, The Journal

A MOTHER-of-two has spoken of her terror after a man tried to force her to hand over her car as she visited a Northumberland coastal beauty spot with her children.

The woman -– who is in her 30s but doesn’t want to be identified – thwarted the would-be carjacker by screaming at him when he approached her vehicle in darkness at the Druridge Bay country park on Monday evening.

She had driven to the nature haven with her two children and was travelling along a narrow roadway when a male cyclist in front of her pulled over to let her pass.

The woman parked up but then started to reverse her car, and it was at this point that she noticed the lower half of the male cyclist in her rearview mirror.

He opened the car door, told her to leave the keys in the ignition and get out of the vehicle. He repeated the orders when the shocked woman asked him what he had said.

She said: “I had this huge rush of adrenaline and screamed at him. He slammed the door and ran off. It was so dark outside I couldn’t see where he had gone but my kids looked back and saw him running and pushing the bike.’’

The woman was too terrified to get out of the car and open a locked gate which she has a key to. She called the police and waited inside the vehicle with her children for 20 minutes until officers arrived.

The man involved is said to be in his 20s, freckled and spoke with a local accent. Police are making inquiries into the incident.