Bell-ringer flung 20ft into the air sues church after breaking ankles
A BELL-RINGER who thought he was going to die when he was flung into the air during a practice session is suing the church for damages, it emerged yesterday.
Steven Tomsett, 18, broke both ankles in the drama at St Helen’s Church, in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in January.
The trainee engineer also damaged his right leg and injured his lower back when he was sent flying into the air after the wooden stay which keeps the bell upright was broken.
Mr Tomsett, who was 17 at the time of the accident, said: “I was pulled quickly up into the air and just remember looking down and seeing everybody’s faces looking up at me. It was terrifying and was one of those moments when you think you are going to die. I thought, ‘Is this really happening to me?’
“At about 20ft up I let go and came crashing down and then heard somebody shouting for me to let go.
“The pain I felt was indescribable. I was in absolute agony. It’s fair to say I was using language that shouldn’t probably be used in church.”
The teenager was rescued by firefighters who rushed up to the bellringing chamber in the church tower via a 12th century spiral staircase.
He was too seriously injured to be carried down the narrow staircase so he was lowered through a trap door and winched down to the floor of the church.
Mr Tomsett is making a personal injury claim against the church and says the ordeal has left him in “constant pain”.
He said: “I’m taking action against the church as this whole thing was avoidable if the bells had been maintained properly.
“I’m the only one who has suffered.
“I lost my job, I’m in constant pain and now the church has said what happened is not its fault. It doesn’t seem right.”
Training sessions at St Helen’s are available to novice bell-ringers as young as 10 in the hope that that the centuries-old skill is not lost.