IT was like a bizarre storyline from the TV black comedy Six Feet Under.

A Hampshire funeral director found himself at the centre of a legal row alleging that he had poached clients from a rival firm.

Nigel Chamberlain, a respected undertaker known to hundreds of bereaved families, was accused of a breach of contract.

In a High Court writ, he was alleged to have organised five funerals for a rival company after leaving his old firm last September after 34 years.

It claimed Mr Chamberlain, who has been plying his trade for the best part of four decades, fell foul of his employment contract, which banned him for working for rivals within five miles for a year after leaving.

He refuted the allegation, levelled by Surrey-based Fairways Partnership, which trades locally as JNO Steel & Son in Winchester and Thomas Pink and Son in Bishop's Waltham.

Mr Chamberlain claimed he was at the funerals as a "personal friend and mourner".

A legal and potentially costly showdown in London's High Court has now been avoided after both sides came to an agreement.

Mark Allery, director at Winchester-based RS & Partners, which employs Mr Chamberlain, said: "As Mr Chamberlain had not broken any clause in his contract an out-of-court agreement was reached."

Mr Chamberlain will be free to return to Bishop's Waltham as an independent funeral director from October, when client restrictions end.

The writ stated that he arranged funerals in Shedfield, Bishop's Waltham, Porchester Crematorium, Basingstoke Crematorium and at a United Free Church. He was also due to arrange funerals for three others at Bishop's Waltham and Southampton Crematorium, it added.

Mr Chamberlain's solicitors argued that he attended the funerals as a "personal friend and mourner", and "as a friend of the deceased and the deceased's family", although contact details for the funerals were said to have been "c/o Nigel Chamberlain at RS & Partners".

Although some of the funerals were outside the restricted area, the writ claims the deceased were from the restricted parts.

Before the agreement, Fairways had been seeking damages from Mr Chamberlain, of Bishop's Waltham, and RS & Partners.

Fairways spokesman Sam Kershaw confirmed an agreement was reached between both parties and signed by a judge.

He added: "Before issuing proceedings we gave the former employee the opportunity to refrain from breaching the contract but ultimately we had to issue the proceedings to protect the legitimate interests of our business Thomas Pink & Son of Bishop's Waltham and to safeguard the future of our employees."