Police were called after a gang tried to rob a moped from another boy in a car park in Hornchurch.

The incident took place on Monday at around 3pm in Station Parade.

A spokeswoman from the Met Police, based in the East area, told the Recorder that a group of five men - reported as being in their 20s - on three mopeds pushed the boy and tried to steal his moped.

They said that members of the group shouted “Give is your bike bruv” before trying to rob him of his Honda moped.

However they did not manage to get away with it.

CCTV in the area is now being looked at by police and they said that this will be investigated by specialist units including Operation Venice and Operation Mexico.

Operation Mexico was launched in January this year in a bid to tackle a rise in robberies and burglaries in the east area.

While the Met started Operation Venice last summer to try and reduce the amount of scooter thefts and to crack down on moped enabled crime.

The spokeswoman told the Recorder: “We need more people to give detailed reports of crimes like this, so can build links, and so we can go out and find these people.”

To view more about Operation Mexico and Operation Venice have a look at our previous stories.