CONTRACTORS have seized back thousands of pounds worth of children's play equipment from a troubled Hampshire leisure development.

Staff from Wicksteed Leisure cut through fences to repossess items valued at £40,000 in a dawn swoop on Hanger Farm in Totton.

The firm, which supplied and installed the play equipment, carried out the 5.30am raid because it had not yet been paid for.

We reported in June how the £3m sports and arts project had been delayed because the main contractors, Southampton-based Leonard Field Group, stopped trading.

Another contractor, Richardsons (Nyewood) Ltd, of Petersfield, has stepped in and work had resumed although the crisis will delay the project by four months.

Now Totton and Eling Town Council has threatened to take legal action because they claim police officers called to the scene acted outside their authority.

The council can claim ownership of certain items on the site, even if they have not been paid for, according to insolvency laws.

Yet when security guards at Hanger Farm raised the alarm with police, officers sided with contractors and allowed them to leave with the equipment.

Town clerk Derek Biggs argued that the county court should have been allowed to decide who owned the goods - not the police.

He said: "At the moment we're of the view we did own the equipment because it was fixed to the ground.

"It may be a county court would disagree. We just feel it was not for the contractors to make that decision and it was not for the police to let them.

"We don't think it was good business. In the past all our play areas, 18 of them, have used Wicksteed equipment.

"If we can't resolve this it's doubtful we will use them again. I can't perceive why they did it.

"We sent them a letter only a couple of days before saying: 'we've dealt with you for many years and we would like to in the future. Obviously it needs to be legally determined who owns the goods and if you own them you can have them back or we'll purchase them'. Our only real option is to take the case to County Court and see who owns it."

A police spokesman said: "We have received some correspondence from the council. It would be inappropriate to discuss this any further."

A bankruptcy solicitor of Southampton legal firm Paris, Smith and Randall, who preferred not to be named, said disputes of this nature usually have to be settled in court.

He said ownership was based on how easily the goods could be removed by the contractors when they tried to reclaim them.