Wantage MP Robert Jackson is calling on the Government to lobby Europe to bring the policy on licensing professional pilots into line with the rest of the world.

This follows representations from a constituent who has one perfect eye and one requiring a prescription.

He is allowed to fly privately and has done for 15 years.

But under the European Joint Aviation Authority's standards he is not allowed to become a professional.

However if he lived in countries such as the United States, Australian, New Zealand and many other non-European countries he would be allowed to become a commercial pilot under the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Pilots from those countries are allowed to fly over Europe and the UK although he and other people in the same situation are banned.

The would-be professional pilot has told the Wantage Tory that the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority wants to see the European body adopt the international standards.

He added that Oxfordshire was home to Europe's biggest professional flight training school, in Kidlington, and the issue went wider in terms of the interests of the county than his own case.

Mr Jackson has written to Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris on the issue.