Angry pensioner locks bell ringers in church tower

A team of bell ringers found themselves locked in a North Yorkshire church tower by a pensioner, after he seemingly took offence to the sound of their ringing. The man, believed to be in his 70s or 80s, climbed the narrow staircase up to the belfry of Saint John the Evangelist Church in Sharow, near Ripon, where a team of ringers were practising a three-hour peal.

After protesting to the bell ringers and allegedly threatening to damage their cars, the irate man then closed the door to the tower and lodged it shut with a piece of wood, leaving the ringers trapped inside. They were stuck there for an extra half-hour, before eventually being freed by a member of the church who heard banging from the trap door when she went to lock up.



The woman who discovered the trap door had been lodged with a piece of wood, which she removed to free the trapped ringers, who it is understood were visiting the area from the south of England.

“There’s no way they could have got out of there,” said their rescuer. “I apologise on behalf of Sharow and the whole of Yorkshire. We aren’t normally like that here.” A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police confirmed the force had received a complaint, saying he believed the man to be from the local area but that officers are not investigating.