Peter Kay tribute: PCSO Kieran Howard from the Gosport Neighbourhood Policing Team accidentally kicks ball over fence whilst playing a game with schoolchildren from Leesland Junior school - and his apology is epic

Good-natured Gosport PCSO Kieran Howard, from Gosport Neighbourhood Policing Team, went to Leesland Junior School to talk about knife safety and crime.

But during an impromptu kick about afterwards the over-enthusiastic officer accidentally booted a football over a fence into a neighbouring garden. And as the owners were not in he returned empty-handed from a mission to retrieve the ball.

His apology was posted to Gosport police's Facebook page, accompanied by a video of comedian Peter Kay – famous for a John Smith’s bitter advert in which he booted a football, shouting ‘Ave It!’ – and like the comedian, PCSO Howard had people in fits of laughter as he explained his embarrassment.

He said the football ‘began to sail in the air and didn’t really ever stop sailing. It sailed over the bar (or what would have been the bar) and continued to sail over a rather high wall at the back of the playing field, heading in the direction of some neighbouring gardens.’

The officer wrote in his post: ‘Embarrassed at what had just occurred, I immediately held my head in my hands and turned to look at some rather despairing children, children who had just had their lunchtime ruined by a local officer of the law.’

He ‘trundled off the field in a desperate attempt to fix things, by going and retrieving the ball’ but was unsuccessful. The humiliated officer left a note at a neighbouring house whose owners were not in.

Kieran added: ‘If it isn’t located, or if it’s still orbiting in space somewhere, I will of course be purchasing a new one in a feeble bid to make up for my moment of humiliation, and at no cost to the taxpayer, in case anyone is wondering.’

The Facebook apology has blown up and people have found his detailed anecdote hilarious as he tried to explain the situation, and the post has over 60 comments, most of which, have said that it has made their day reading it.

Kieran said: ‘I loved reading all the comments on the post.

‘It’s great seeing how it’s given everyone something to laugh about and hopefully it highlights the work we are doing in the community as well. I’m still hoping I’ll be allowed back into the school at some point in the near future. I’ve got a lot of making-up to do though.’