ARMED police surrounded a van to arrest a man and woman after the driver was seen with a gun.

Four police officers were seen pointing guns into the driver’s side of the Transit van on Wednesday afternoon on the seafront.

They were responding to reports of a man with a gun in Kent Elms Close, Eastwood, after a dispute on the street at about 12.10pm.

Within about 30 minutes armed officers had surrounded the van on the ground, with Essex Police’s helicopter circling above. They yelled at the driver and passenger to get out of the car and arrested them both at the scene.

John Clarke, who was passing by, said: “I was about 50 feet away and there were lots of other people about. I stopped because there were police pointing guns near me, but other people were driving past and taking photos. It was very dramatic, the woman looked really shocked.”

Police arrested a 37-year-old man from Southend and a 43- year-old woman from Westcliff on suspicion of possessing a firearm and they were taken to Southend police station for questioning. The incident happened a day after armed officers were called in to arrest four people in Wesley Road, Southend.

Police were called to reports of an assault of a man inside a property in the road and were also told someone was in possession of a gun on Tuesday.

The four were arrested on suspicion of assault and false imprisonment. A 32-year-old man and 18-year-old woman, both from Southend, have been bailed until November 4 pending further inquiries. A 27-year-old woman from Southend and a 26-year-old man from Shoebury were released without charge.

In both instances, police are yet to recover a weapon.

Chief Insp Simon Anslow, district commander for Southend, who was also the firearms deployment officer in yesterday’s incident, said: “Inquiries are ongoing. We will react positively to people calling us. A member of the public called us and within a short period of time we were able to find out where the vehicle was and act.”