Teenager assaulted at station

A 17-year-old girl has been subjected to a serious sexual assault by a man who grabbed her as she waited for a taxi at a railway station.

The attack happened at Caterham in Surrey in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The teenager had caught a train to Caterham from Croydon which arrived at about 0015 BST but she had to wait some time for a taxi she had called.

While she was outside the station, a man pulled up in a dark-coloured, four-door car, a Surrey Police spokeswoman said.

Hid behind trolleys

The girl told police the man jumped out and ran towards her, at which point she tried to escape down a service road between a bank and a supermarket.

The man grabbed her however and subjected her to a serious sexual assault.

The police spokeswoman said: "The victim ran off and hid behind trolleys after the attack and eventually managed to get a taxi at around 0200 BST."

The attacker is described as being at least 6 ft tall, of strong build and between 30 and 40 years old, with dark skin and black bushy eyebrows.

The man, who spoke with a foreign accent of some kind, was wearing a dark woolly hat, black leather gloves and a waist-length dark jacket with the collar turned up and pockets on the chest.

Surrey Police have appealed for anyone who was in the area between 2230 BST on Monday and 0230 BST on Tuesday to contact them.

Officers are particularly keen to hear from anyone may have seen a girl with a rucksack or a man in a dark car behaving suspiciously.