A TRUSTEE at a Swindon homeless charity is facing calls to quit after calling one of its members a “pompous arse” in an email.

David Price accidentally copied in Chris Page to a message intended for fellow members of Threshold Housing Link’s board.

He then sent another defiant email to Mr Page where he fell short of apologising, writing: “Call this arrogance if you like”.

Threshold is embroiled in a dispute over alleged problems with governance, disciplinary procedures and conflicts of interest. These have been consistently denied by the charity’s management.

Mr Page is among the dissenting voices pitched against the trustees, operations director Phil Smith and his wife, chief executive officer Cher Sawyer-Smith.

The 66-year-old writer said: “This demonstrates further the disdain with which Threshold members are held by the trustees. It is, in my opinion, more than enough to force a resignation of the trustee concerned.”

Mr Page, of Marlborough, had sent an email to the trustees on June 16 explaining his reasons for requesting an emergency general meeting, which is due to take place today.

Mr Price then sent a round robin email to his colleagues, but accidentally copied in Mr Price. It read: “Is anyone replying to this pompous arse!”

Mr Price sent another email to Mr Page referring to an inquiry into the dispute, which is being set up South Swindon MP Robert Buckland, Threshold's patron, and Swindon Council.

He wrote: “You will have received my email response which was sent by mistake, however out of sheer frustration.

“You will no doubt be aware that Robert Buckland is arranging a review with independent representation. I, for one will welcome this, as a trustee who is guilty of nothing more than putting something back into society.

“I am happy to be judge (sic) by my peers armed with facts, not those who seek their entertainment from newspaper articles or hearsay. I will take no truck from those who sit in ivory towers and fire arrows at others who are trying to make a difference, when they do not have all of the facts. Call this arrogance if you like.”

Yesterday Mr Price said: ”The remark was a kneejerk reaction made in the light of two extremely provocative and misinformed emails from Chris Page. I further contacted Chris to explain the comment and he has seen fit to go to the press rather than myself.

“With regards to my standing down as trustee, it would be sad world if someone were forced to stand down for a minor misdemeanor such as this. I would be the first to offer my resignation if I was guilty of any misdemeanor which bought the charity into disrepute”.

The row started last month when two street outreach workers went public to allege a series of problems at the charity.

James Derieg and Tony Niester were subsequently suspended, along with Mr Page’s wife, Linda, who has since been reinstated.

The trustees could be forced out by the charity's members at today’s meeting.