POLICE in Southampton today offered an amnesty to pranksters who have left the city's traffic cone supply sadly depleted.

They revealed that more than half of the city's cones had vanished, with many believed moved or borrowed by students and other jokers.

Now the shortage has prompted police to plead for the return of the missing cones, all marked with the words "Hampshire Constabulary".

A popular target with drunks, the cones, used for marking the roads outside football matches and other major events, each cost £4.15. And with the first game of the season at Southampton's new football stadium just weeks away, officers are anxious to get them back.

Sgt Roger Timmins, of Shirley traffic police, said: "They are not cheap and we urgently need them for the new football ground, all stragglers welcome.

"Also, if you've had cones delivered to you by the police but we've forgotten to come and pick them up again, give us a call and we'll come and get them."

City police used to have 500 "no-waiting" cones. Now there are just a lonely 150. Anyone who has one is urged to return it to Shirley police station, no questions asked.