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A schools running league has been terminated after its organiser became fed-up with Town Hall red tape.

Children have been left gutted after Zac Zacharides cancelled the successful and free Islington Schools Running League that he set up four years ago.

Mr Zacharides told the Tribune the league is no more after he became “infuriated” with council bureaucrats who insisted he needed insurance to run a race for school children around Highbury Fields.

A race was supposed to take place there on Monday.

The league had around 120 participants from more than 10 schools across the borough.

Mr Zacharides said: “I was absolutely offended that they would ask me to apply for permission for children to run around a park.”

Council officials first became aware of the league last September when race officials asked council-run Highbury Pool if they could use its toilets.

Mr Zacharides at first brushed aside requests for him to apply for permission to hold the races but he said officials became “more tenacious” before asking if he had public liability insurance.

He said: “‘Do you have public liability insurance’ is the favoured weapon by which bureaucracies claiming ownership of the public space guard their power. It is used to designate parties without such insurance as being irresponsible.”

The races are over and the areas vacated within an hour but council officials told him even a small children’s party would need to be insured. Doing so might mean the events could no longer be free.

“It’s the machine of state – you just cannot argue with them,” Mr Zacharides said, adding that, with a busy day job as a computer programmer, he was not prepared to fight bureaucracy.

“They are demanding obedience to them rather than serving the community,” he said.

Mr Zacharides also coaches elite young athletes and the schools league has provided him with some of his current talent.

Schools have their own insurance policies for activities taking place outside the school gates and Mr Zacharides said that making sure they were never needed was his highest priority.

“If Islington Council wished to satisfy themselves that the event was organised in a safe and responsible way, I would have expected them to attend and observe,” he added. “They informed me that they were too busy.”

Mr Zacharides said he hoped to hold competitive races in the future at Finsbury Park athletics track, which is currently being redeveloped, and at the Emirates stadium.

Cllr Claudia Webbe, executive member for environment and transport, said: “Highbury Fields is a great place for relaxation and sport. We encourage events like this, and sports of all kinds are played in the park every year. We also have a duty to ensure the safety of all park users, particularly when schoolchildren are involved and vehicles are being driven through the park.

“We asked the race organiser to update their risk assessment for this event, and to complete an event application. We have made several offers to help with this, and this offer still stands.

“We want to work with the organiser to make sure future events can take place, and have invited him to meet with me and council officers to make this happen.”