A formal complaint has been lodged against a councillor who was allegedly caught on CCTV making a rude gesture at a local resident.
Cotswold District Councillor Chris Twells is accused of flashing the V-sign at Sara McMahon outside her home in Tetbury.
The incident, which left Sara “completely shocked”, occurred after she criticised Twells’s behaviour on a community Facebook group.
Despite denying the allegations and claiming his actions were merely a “gesture for emphasis”.
Sara, a teacher, expressed her disappointment with the situation, stating: “The page is supposed to be a community site but it has turned a bit vitriolic recently.”
She added: “Chris has been replying to comments and posts on there in a very unprofessional manner – sarcastic and just downright rude.
“I just said ‘people in elected positions should be role models – for this reason, you won’t be getting my vote’.”
“He sent me a Facebook message later just saying ‘hey’ – I didn’t respond, but an hour and a half later he said, ‘Have we got a problem here?’.”
After deleting the “concerning” messages, Sara went to bed and the next day, at around 2.45pm, Twells was knocking at her door.
Sara said: “It was such a shock.”
“I asked him how he knew where I lived – to which he said it was on the electoral register.”
“He told me he was canvassing – but he had no leaflets or anything.”
“He said, ‘you bought this house in 2015’ and I was like you’re doing research into me? That is super creepy.”
“I said I had actually lived here since 2007, to which he asked where I lived before then!”.
Sara described Twells’s demeanour throughout the whole exchange as “super defensive”.
She added: “I called him out on his behaviour saying it was so unprofessional.”
“He turned away and walked about three to four steps, and he flipped me two fingers as I was stood in the doorway!”
“I witnessed it.”
“I just went back inside, my son was like ‘mummy what happened?’ – I could not believe what had just happened.”
After discussing the event with numerous people, Sara made a complaint to Cotswolds Council and called the police on the Tuesday night.
Twells, when asked for his side of the story by the Cotswold Journal, said he had simply been doing his usual canvassing of Ms McMahon during the local elections and denied making any rude gestures.
He explained that he had overlooked a Facebook message from Mrs McMahon the day before his visit in which she had said she did not want to be canvassed.
He stated: “That is not a ‘two fingered salute’ I’m not in the habit of swearing at electors. Perhaps it is a gesture for emphasis as part of our conversation.
“She is registered to vote so her address data is provided to me, as a candidate, for electoral purposes only. It is not in the public domain.”
He described their interaction as brief and polite, saying: “After a short exchange it became clear that she was not voting for me. I left the property and certainly made no offensive gesture.”
He concluded by dismissing the incident, saying: “This is a storm in a teacup. In a democratic society, when you’re campaigning, candidates will meet people who disagree with you and that’s absolutely fine.”
