A TIMPERLEY dad has criticised the heavy-handed approach police took to stop his young sons playing football on the street outside their home.

Anthony Worthington, 43, said he was shocked when three police officers turned up at his home on St Leonards Drive to tell him not to let his sons, aged 11 and 12, play football on the street outside.

He got an even bigger shock last week when he received a letter from Trafford Council warning him about the consequences of anti-social behaviour and referring to ‘an on going problem regarding street football’ in the road.

Anthony said his sons, Harry and Alex, both pupils at Wellington Road School, were ‘nice boys not hooligans’ who liked to play football with their neighbour’s children after school and at weekends, not late at night or early in the morning.

The freelance engineer prefers them to play outside the house where he can keep an eye on them.

“I’m absolutely appalled that the police are not out there catching real criminals. I feel like my family is being persecuted.

“When I was a lad the police were not out persecuting children for playing football.

“Surely it’s a waste of resources for three policemen to come to my door?” he said.

Inspector Simon Wright, from Altrincham Neighbourhood Policing Team, said it was ‘odd’ and ‘not usual’ that three police staff had visited the property but said there could be a number of reasons for this, the most likely being that the officers were travelling to or from another job or that one was a trainee or PCSO.

But he said: “It’s common sense, don’t let your kids play on the road, it is not a playground.”

Executive Councillor Jonathan Coupe said: "Anti-social behaviour is defined as any behaviour that causes alarm or distress to another person and in this particular case a letter has been sent to the parents to explain that a complaint has been received about their child's behaviour with a request to address the issues outlined in the complaint.

"This is in no way a formal warning or prosecution.”