A RUNNING and athletics club has fallen out again with the organisation in charge of its training venue.
Mansfield Harriers and Athletic Club and the trustees of Berry Hill Park in Mansfield have been in dispute over the facility for more than a year.
In the most recent incident athletes were left upset when they arrived for regular Thursday training at the park's track and field facility only to find a football club using the field inside the track.
Some athletes were unaware the trustees had given the night to Woodhouse Colts FC, in a move which has again thrown both sides in to dispute.
It follows a row in June over a rise in the rent the Harriers pay to use the park.
Ray Jackson-Smith, secretary of the trustees, said he emailed the Harriers on September 27 saying they could no longer use the facilities at the park on Thursdays, but offering them Fridays or Wednesdays or a change in their fees.
But Mr Jackson-Smith said he got no reply from the Harriers, so went ahead with allowing the football club to take the night.
He said: "There has been a long standing run-in with the Harriers and the trust. The trust has taken a lot of stick which is unjustified."
"We need to manage the park and try to make some income because it's a private park which has no public sector income at all."
But Harriers club chairman Paul Gair said he had not received the trustees' first email.
"It's frustrating," he said. "I've had enough of it. I just want it all resolved.
"As soon as I got the second email (about Thursdays) I tried ringing the chairman of the trustees, but couldn't get through."
He said he eventually spoke a trustee representative but felt the conversation "didn't achieve anything".
He said there had not been enough notice for him to warn athletes of the problem, so some turned up on the night the football team were there.
One of them, 17-year-old middle distance runner Hayley Silver, said: "Everything seems to be done so irrationally by the trustees and it's unfair on the kids and the adults at the club."
Mr Gair said the club had agreed to pay their rent for September and sent a letter to the trustees saying they wanted to resolve the dispute.
"I'm ever the optimist," he said. "I just want it sorted."
The club has between 200 and 300 members.