POLICE are mystified by a driver's report of his collision with an elderly man - who then disappeared from sight. The driver told traffic cops and ambulance staff that he hit a man when he was driving on the new A120 just after midnight last Thursday. But when John Dolan, of Tidings Hill, Halstead, got out to investigate, there was no one there, nor was there any damage to his car. Mr Dolan, 36, explained: "A man appeared and stopped in front of me. "I didn't even have time to swerve, and there was a loud bang." Mr Dolan called the police immediately, fearing the man was severely injured.

 "I thought I had killed someone," he added. Essex Police said they were keeping an open mind on the report, and were still investigating. "This was a spooky incident that we have been unable to get to the bottom of," said a spokesman. An Essex Ambulance spokesman added: "This was a very strange incident." The county was last month named as having the most haunted roads in the UK. The survey, put together by Vauxhall Corsa, placed the A12 - which links the A120 - in the top ten for unexplained sightings nationally.