AN ice hockey coach claims Teesside's ice rink is on the verge of collapse.

Allen Flavell, who manages Billingham's junior ice hockey club, says the state of the Billingham Forum rink is an "embarrassment" and is impossible for teams to play on.

He has written letters to Stockton Borough Council and the Forum manager demanding that the ice rink is renovated and brought up to a "reasonable standard" again.

He told The Northern Echo: "It's a regular occurrence that Billingham teams are having to suffer poor ice conditions, spasmodic training sessions and are unable to hold games due to the embarrassing state of the Billingham Forum Ice Arena.

"The ice is in danger of complete collapse.

"Why have they let the Billingham ice arena get into such a sad state of repair?"

He added that all ice hockey teams which play from Billingham were at a disadvantage because of the poor facilities, despite the fact that Billingham players have been selected to play both regionally and for England.

Mr Flavell also claimed that fewer young people on Teesside were taking up ice skating.

"The numbers of new kids coming into the sport at Billingham are drastically declining, as are the leisure skaters in normal sessions," he said.

"We've heard rumours of a new rink, but we don't know when."

Kevin McAuley, assistant director of leisure services at Stockton council, which owns the Forum, said: "We have spent considerable sums of money on the ice rink and we are dealing with any remaining technical issues and have ambitious plans for supporting ice skating in Billingham in the future."

New plans for the Tees Valley unveiled last week included proposals for a new regional ice rink and sports centre to replace the existing Billingham Forum. The future of the theatre is unknown.

It was agreed last year that the Forum would be demolished to make way for a supermarket, and the new sports complex would be built on the John Whitehead Park opposite, in two to three years