A man holding what appeared to be a gun has attempted to rob a service station.

Police received a call shortly after 11pm after a man entered Shell in High Road, Benfleet, yesterday and jumped over the counter holding what appeared to be a black handgun.

The man was then disturbed and ran away from the scene empty handed.

He has been described as being white, around 6ft tall and wore a black hoodie, black jogging bottoms and had a black balaclava covering his face.

He also carried a black backpack.

Police attended and searched the area but were unable to locate the man described

Anyone with information, CCTV or dash cam footage that could assist thr investigations is asked to call Basildon CID on 101 quoting incident 1325 of 15/10.

You can also report information online by visiting www.esssex.police.uk/do-it-online or you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.