A bell-ringing festival in a sleepy village caused a right old ding-ding when an angry resident allegedly grabbed an official by the throat in the bizarre bust-up over noise and car parking.
The annual festival and competition in South Devon involves teams showing off their skills, but the confrontation occurred when a fed-up villager stormed into the church.
He was eventually dragged 'kicking and screaming' out of the centuries-old church, report Plymouth Live.
Last Saturday, for the first time in several years, St Peter's Church, in Noss Mayo, was the venue.
The contest has taken place for more than 50 years and each year a different part of the deanery hosts the event.
However, it was claimed that Saturday's festival nearly came to a crashing end after a resident interrupted proceedings with a bitter complaint.
A source told Plymouth Live : "This man, in his late 60s, came in complaining about a bell-ringer's car being parked across his drive. When it transpired it was one of the team-members who was actually ringing at that moment in the tower, he attempted to storm it.
"He had to be restrained from forcing his way into the tower and dragging the car owner out. He refused to even wait for a few minutes.
Barrie Furzlend, Captain of the Tower at St Peter's church, confirmed that an incident took place on Saturday, but insisted nobody's driveway was blocked at any time.
He said: "People were pretty upset about it. There were women and children in the church, the youngest child was just three and this man nearly knocked the child over during the episode.
"He tried to access the tower, demanding to get the car key off the owner. Now, I'm captain of the tower and I've been ringing bells in church towers for 60 years and let me tell you, they can be quite dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. He was seriously angry and tried to climb up to the ringing chamber to stop the ringing. He wasn't prepared to wait 10 minutes.
"Our group secretary tried to stop him and he was grabbed around the throat. Two or three other men stepped in and stopped him. He had to be dragged out and when he got outside the front door, kicking and screaming he just sat down on the floor. He wasn't going to get up and sat there swearing, shouting abuse at everybody, complaining about the bells.
"We were very close to calling the police and I've told the group secretary that this was a matter of assault."
Mr Furzlend said the church's Reverend Ann Legge volunteered to contact the aggrieved resident but he did not think it would be well-received.
He said: "It's the worst incident I've ever witnessed at what is usually a fun afternoon for people."
He added he was quite surprised to hear other residents in the Noss Mayo area took to social media to complain about the bell-ringing.
One described four hours of bell-ringing as "a bit extreme", another said it was driving them "insane" while a third added they were considering taking their hedge trimmers to the bell ropes.
However, not everyone was down on the bell ringing. One nearby neighbour said: "It’s a wonderful sound."
Mr Furzlend went on: "Every village in Devon has a church and a peel of bells - quite a few are still ringing. The ringing of bells in this country is getting on for 200 to 300 years. It's a part of British life and it's something that needs to be kept."
