A formal complaint has been made against a councillor caught on CCTV making an apparent rude gesture at a local resident.<br /><br />Cotswold District Councillor Chris Twells was accused by a woman of holding up his two fingers towards her outside her home.<br /><br />Sara McMahon, a Tetbury resident, says Twells flicked the V sign at her when he "unexpectedly" turned up at her house uninvited on 5 February - and she was left "completely shocked".<br /><br />The interaction with Twells came shortly after Sara was vocal about her thoughts on Twells's "unprofessional" manner on a local community facebook group.<br /><br />Twells has denied the claims and said his actions were a "gesture for emphasis."<br /><br />Cllr Twells was elected as a Liberal Democrat but was later suspended by his party and resigned from them due to an employment dispute.<br /><br />The Tetbury with Upton ward councillor also sits as an Independent on Salford City Council 160 miles away.<br /><br />Sara, who works as a teacher, said: "The page is supposed to be a community site but it has turned a bit vitriolic recently.<br /><br />"Chris has been replying to comments and posts on there in a very unprofessional manner - sarcastic and just downright rude.<br /><br />"I'm a teacher and if I had behaved in this way I would lose my job.<br /><br />"So two weeks ago, on the Sunday night, I called him out for being unprofessional, but I was very polite.<br /><br />"I just said 'people in elected positions should be role models - for this reason, you won't be getting my vote'.<br /><br />"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?'."<br /><br />After deleting the "concerning" messages, Sara went to bed and the next day, at around 2:45pm none other than Twells was knocking at her door.<br /><br />Sara said: "It was such a shock.<br /><br />"I asked him how he knew where I lived - to which he said it was on the electoral register.<br /><br />"He told me he was canvassing - but he had no leaflets or anything.<br /><br />"He said, 'you bought this house in 2015' and I was like you're doing research into me? That is super creepy.<br /><br />"I said I had actually lived here since 2007, to which he asked where I lived before then!".<br /><br />Sara described Twells's demeanour throughout the whole exchange as "super defensive".<br /><br />She added: "I called him out on his behaviour saying it was so unprofessional.<br /><br />"He turned away and walked about three to four steps, and he flipped me two fingers as I was stood in the doorway!"<br /><br />"I witnessed it.<br /><br />"You can see on the CCTV as well that he walked towards and along the road, but looks back at me several times.<br /><br />"I just went back inside, my son was like 'mummy what happened?' - I could not believe what had just happened."<br /><br />After discussing the event with numerous people, Sara made a complaint to Cotswolds Council and called the police on the Tuesday night. <br /><br />When approached for comment, Twells told the Cotswold Journal he canvassed Ms McMahon as is standard during local elections and rejects that he made an offensive gesture.<br /><br />He claims he missed a reply from Mrs McMahon on Facebook the day before he visited her in which she declined to be canvassed.<br /><br />He said: “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.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />“My conversation was brief and polite. <br /><br />"After a short exchange it became clear that she was not voting for me. I left the property and certainly made no offensive gesture.<br /><br />“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.”
