It's bonkers - now they're confiscating conkers!

The children were issued with stop and search tickets by a police officer at Littlehampton on Saturday and had their haul of conkers confiscated.

But they went back the next day with their parents' permission after they called police to demand an explanation '” but no-one got back to them.

The same officer returned and again warned the children to stay away from the tree, in Church Street, claiming there was a conservation order on it and it was on private property.

Mother-of-two Diana Jayne, 41, was planning a party at the nearby Gratwicke Arms pub when son Kiya Andrews, 7, and friend Charlie Richardson, 11, were stopped.

She said: "The kids asked if they could go conkering at the big tree which is opposite the pub, so we said,'No problem'.

"They were just throwing sticks up into the tree to get the conkers down, then 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.

"My friend Becky phoned the police afterwards and asked to speak to someone. They were supposed to ring back but never did.

"When we went back to the pub the next day and the kids asked if they could go over to the tree again we said, 'Of course you can'.

"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