A hearing will be held at Darlington Borough Council next week after a heated row between two councillors descended into a ‘wrestling match’.

The Middleton St George Parish Council meeting, which took place last May, ended with one councillor with scratches and blood on his face and arms, attendees in shock, and a broken pair of glasses said to be worth £325.

The dispute began with parish councillor David Darling asking Colin Pease, a member of Darlington council attending as a ward councillor, a list of prepared questions ‘in a raised voice and provoking manner’, according to investigator Ellie Dewar.

Other councillors at the meeting said these questions were ‘inappropriate’, a ‘provocation’ and ‘nothing to do with council business’.

According to Ms Dewar’s report, Cllr Pease responded by calling Cllr Darling a ‘prat’ among other comments, before trying to leave the room. The investigator said Cllr Pease ‘failed to treat Cllr Darling with respect’.

But she said the matter was escalated by Cllr Darling ‘standing up, taking his glasses off and then, by aggressively slamming a door, preventing Cllr Pease from leaving’.

A physical altercation then broke out, likened to a ‘wrestling match’ by one councillor in attendance.

According to the investigator’s report, after the altercation, ‘Cllr Pease had scratches and blood on his face and arm area, and his glasses were broken during the incident. Cllr Darling had a slightly red face and a bruised finger.’

Cllr Pease recalls saying: ‘these glasses you have just broken cost £325, what is the matter with you?’.

Ms Dewar said there was dispute about who started the physical altercation but that most evidence suggested Cllr Darling had done so ‘by grabbing hold of Cllr Pease’s neck’, while Cllr Pease ‘acted in reasonable and proportionate self-defence’.

At a meeting next week, Darlington’s member standards hearing committee will consider whether the councillors breached the code of conduct.