Town hall killjoys worried about insurance claims are denying children the fun of knocking down conkers.

Worthing Borough Council says it is faced with an annual bill for thousands of pounds from home owners who have projectiles hurled through their windows by children aiming at horse chestnut trees.

Officials are paying contractors £100 a time to strip trees across the town and prevent children from taking part in the traditional conker gathering game.

Ex-European conker champion Liz Gibson, 51, from Hurstpierpoint, said: "It's all part of the fun of playing conkers.

"But I did know if I hit somebody's house I would get a good clip around the ear.

"I just hope this isn't political correctness gone mad because there are already far too many rules surrounding conker use now."

Trees in Church Road, Tarring, and others in Lyon's Farm have all been stripped of conkers.

The council says its contractors are placing them at the bottom of the trees so children could pick them up.

A spokesman said: "We don't want to spoil anybody's fun but we do want to stop the number of insurance claims against us. We're basically saving the council some money."

It is not just in Worthing that officialdom is going bonkers about conkers.

A group of children in Littlehampton were stopped and searched by police for knocking them out of a tree.

Kiya Andrews, seven, and friend Charlie Richardson, 11, were stopped by police who claimed the tree they were hitting had a preservation order on it.

They had their conkers confiscated and were handed stop-and-search forms and a ticking off by the police. Arun District Council later confirmed the tree, while being in a conservation area, was not protected.

Kiya's mother, Diane Jayne, 41, said: "They were just throwing sticks up into the tree to get the conkers down when they were told off by the officer for pulling the branches. Charlie was frightened because the officer said he could have been arrested for it.

As soon as the officer turned up we went over to speak to her and she said there was a conservation order on the tree and that it could not be touched and it was on private property "I think it is ridiculous. I tell them not to vandalise but telling them not to collect conkers is stupid."

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Stop and search forms were issued and words of advice were given by the officer. We also confiscated a large bag of conkers.

"The forms are a necessary form of bureaucracy that we have to complete but also a way of ensuring that parents are aware we have spoken to their children."