Kicking a football against a wall may sound like harmless child's play.

But if you had a goal post and cricket stumps daubed in graffiti on the outside of your house, you may think differently.

Every teatime, the Pearson family's kitchen shakes with the vibrations of footballs being kicked against their wall, as children use the graffiti as target practice.

The family moved to the end terrace of Park Row, in west Hull, a year ago and were apparently assured by a housing officer the graffiti would be removed immediately.

Four cancelled appointments later, the Pearsons contacted the Mail to see if we could help.

Within hours of calling the council's press office, a team from contractors Kier Building Maintenance were on the doorstep ready to remove the unsightly graffiti.

Melanie Pearson, who lives with husband Craig and daughters Rhiannon, one, and Elle, two, at the property, said: "I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. It's a weight off my shoulders.

"It think it is disgraceful it took a call from the Mail to get it removed."

The 22-year-old said the constant noise from the footballs had been a daily frustration.

She said: "It has stressed me out to be honest.

"The cooker bangs against the wall while I am trying to cook on it, the cutlery has fallen off the wall and everything rattles.

"It makes the street look untidy and it makes my house look messy."

The Pearsons waited in four times for Kier, but they never showed up.

Melanie's dad Graham Fish, 47, said: "The graffiti was not offensive, so they were in no rush to remove it.

"It has been a real inconvenience for the family though, especially during school holidays and on a night time.

"I want to thank the Mail very much. Without them, I don't think this would be getting removed."

Last months, a new campaign was launched to rid the city of graffiti, which costs authorities £100,000 a year to remove.

Hull Against Graffiti is being run by Humberside Police and Hull City Council.

The campaign uses a hi-tech Taggy database, which stores and tracks every graffiti image in the city, helping identify culprits.

A spokeswoman for Hull City Council said: "It is our policy to remove graffiti from public property and open spaces within 24 hours of receipt of the report.

"If the graffiti is of an offensive or racist nature we aim to remove it within two hours.

"Unfortunately in this case, there appears to have been a breakdown in communication and orders were wrongly cancelled in this case.

"As soon as we became aware of this, we raised an order to remove the graffiti immediately."