A PIRATE enthusiast who calls himself Flintlock Fred had the shock of his life when two armed police units arrived to confiscate his 50p toy gun.

Steve Dungworth, 43, had bought the toy flintlock from a car boot sale when he joined the Whitby International Pirate Society, in North Yorkshire.

But the father-of-one found himself staring down the barrel of real guns when he answered a knock at his front door.

He said: "There was this hammering at the door and these two armed policemen said, 'We believe you have a gun'.

"I showed them it and they asked me to come to the police station."

Mr Dungworth, a chaffeur, whose clients include a number of doctors on call, explained that he had put the gun in his car and forgot about it for months.

It was only when he took it out with the intention of taking it to a pirate society meeting at the Tap and Spile pub that a woman neighbour saw it and called the police.

"I must have had it out of the car for people to see for all of five seconds," said Mr Dungworth, who has a nine-year-old son.

"But I have to admit it does look realistic from a distance.

"I was a bit embarrassed with the police, but I told them all about it in my interview.

"I will be a lot more careful in future. But I still want my gun back."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said the force had to take reports of people carrying guns in the street seriously.

He said: "Reports of people carrying replica firearms are becoming increasingly common and it is something we are concerned about.

"The police have to take this extremely seriously and there have been cases of tragedies occurring with replica guns elsewhere.

"It is no joke."