The company in charge of Kingston and Richmond's children's services sparked a cross-borough child abduction scare – after mistakenly reporting its own staff members to police.

Achieving for Children, the social enterprise owned by Richmond and Kingston councils, alerted schools to a man claiming to be “from the council” asking schoolchildren to get into his van to discuss youth activities.

He was said to be wearing a lanyard that looked “home-made”.

Schools passed on the warning to parents, via emails and texts, which was then shared on Facebook and Twitter.

The van was parked close to Richard Challoner School on Monday.

A student from the school contacted the Surrey Comet and said at least 12 students had gone inside the van which had a television screen and a CCTV system with the two men and a woman.

The Surrey Comet also shared the warning, which was read more than 17,000 times online.

But it has now emerged the individuals were in fact council-sanctioned workers on official business.

Kingston Council confirmed this morning that the three people in the van were in fact two workers from Achieving for Children and a Kingston Council employee.

In an email sent to parents from Richard Challoner School in Old Malden yesterday, deputy headteacher Sean Binns said the council’s actions were “not acceptable”.

He said: “It has now been established that the individuals and van had been sanctioned by the local authority.

“In the school’s view, individuals stopping students of school age on the street and asking for information, such as home address and phone numbers, is not acceptable.

“As well as this, the situation of inviting them into a van goes against all the safeguarding and child protection protocols and advice they would have been given at schools and, I’m sure, by yourselves as parents.”

A parent from Richard Challoner School, who did not want to be named, said: “It is unbelievable that the council would sanction this – children getting interviewed inside a van, it’s just poor practice for safeguarding isn’t it?”

A spokesman from Achieving for Children said: "Achieving for Children always investigates any reports of suspicious activity around schools as a matter or urgency, including reporting it to the police, and informing other schools in the vicinity

"On this occasion a very thorough and speedy investigation revealed that this was legitimate council workers carrying out their duties. Schools were informed as such very quickly.

"Some confusion may have been caused by the fact that the van being used by the workers was a back-up vehicle from Richmond Council, and did not have Kingston Council branding.

"We are looking at our processes now to see how we can avoid any confusion like this in the future, and Achieving for Children apologies for any concern or upset this situation has caused."