A SEVERELY-disabled man has been banned from putting his special vehicle in a Huddersfield town centre car park.

Ron Vassallo and his wife, Lynne, have been barred from the car park behind Wilkinson's store - known as the Town Hall Car Park - after attendants said their specially- adapted VW Transporter was too big.

But the Brockholes couple have difficulty parking elsewhere because the way the mechanism works for the tail-lift means enclosed car parks - such as Kingsgate or the Alfred Street multi-storey - have ceilings which are too low.

And they say their vehicle is smaller than some popular people carriers.

The 120-space car park on Alfred Street, managed by Middlesex-based Apcoa Parking, has banned mini-buses and vans.

The attendants say the Vassallos' converted VW Transporter falls into this category.

Mr Vassallo, 71, is a former manager at London's Heathrow Airport and was then a college lecturer.

He was struck down by a viral infection four years ago and has been left quadriplegic, with little use of his arms and none in his legs.

Mrs Vassallo, 60, said: "We have used the car park many times over the last three years and had no problems before.

"It has four marked disabled parking spots and if they are full we use a normal spot and pay.

"I was doing that at 9.30am on Wednesday when an attendant told me vans and mini-buses were banned.

"But ours is clearly a disabled vehicle. He should have used common sense. It's no bigger than a people carrier and there were plenty of free spaces that day.

"Our VW is narrower and shorter than the Ford Galaxy people carrier. Are they going to ban people carriers from this car park now?"

An Apcoa spokesman said the rule was introduced because if vans or mini-buses were in one of the spaces it would be difficult for people to get out of cars on either side.

He said the attendant explained the rule and tried to help the couple by saying they could park in one of the disabled spots just for that day.

These spots are the same size as able-bodied ones.

But Mrs Vassallo says no disabled space was available.

The spokesman added: "This is an incident where someone has not wanted to accept the rules.

"We have had problems in that car park with larger vehicles obstructing cars so they can't get out of their parking spaces."