WITH it going dark at around 4.30pm and there being only two floodlit football courts free for the public to use in Runcorn, I was aghast to discover that four of the five lights on those courts were not working when I took my son out for a kickabout one night last week.

After driving to the courts in Hallwood Park and off Boston Avenue, we had to head straight back home as only owls could have played football on them.

The floodlight above the hard court in Hallwood Park was working but there was a group of youngsters playing on that.

We would have normally played on the grass pitch to the side of it but the lights for them were both out, as were both of the lights on the hard court off Boston Avenue.

It is no wonder the England football team is getting worse and worse when you have a town with nowhere for kids to play the game after 4.30pm.

It is also hardly surprising there are groups of teenage boys up to no good of an evening when they are deprived of this much better way for them to spend their time.

Sort it out Halton Council. How much can a few bulbs cost?

Richard Thompson

Beechwood

Runcorn