Northumbria Police has issued a statement after a major investigation was launched on Saturday evening into reports of a child 'abduction'.
Shortly after 8pm police began investigating reports of a child being forced into a white van outside a church on Coldwell Street, in Felling .
on social media along with a description of the child said to be involved and a van.
Police attended the scene and a large-scale inquiry was conducted over several hours as the report was investigated.
Shortly after 1am on Sunday, police put out this statement:
"Police investigating reports of a child being forced into a white van are now satisfied that an offence has not taken place.
"Officers investigating the allegation have carried out rigorous lines of enquiries and it has been established that the incident did not happen."
Superintendent Karl Wilson, who led the inquiry, thanked the public for their "support and patience".
He said: "We have taken this report extremely seriously and after following all possible lines of enquiries we are now satisfied an offence has not taken place.
"Reports of this nature, understandably, concern our communities and can escalate on social media very quickly, as we would very much want should there be a child rescue alert situation.
"So I would like to thank the public for their support and concern in this matter while we've carried out this investigation.
"The incident has now been stood down and the investigation closed."
