A TEAM of bellringers were locked in a church tower by an unknown pensioner after he seemingly took offence at the noise.

The man, believed to be in his 70s or 80s, climbed the narrow staircase to the belfry of Saint John the Evangelist Church, in Sharow, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, on Sunday where a team of ringers were practising a three-hour peal.

After protesting to the bellringers and threatening to damage their cars, the man then closed the door to the tower and wedged it shut with a piece of wood, leaving the ringers trapped inside.

They were stuck there for half an hour before being freed by a member of the church who heard banging from the trapdoor when she went to lock up.

She said: “I wandered up at about 5.10pm and heard this stamping and I thought that was a funny way to ring the bells. Then I went up to the tower and I could hear the stamping going on again.”

The ringers were visiting the area from the south of England.

Their rescuer said: “There is no way they could have got out. I apologise on behalf of Sharow and the whole of Yorkshire. We are not normally like that here.”

Police confirmed the force had received a complaint about the man.

A spokesman said he believed the man to be from the local area but said officers were not investigating.

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