A WOULD-BE cabbie has been told he may not get a licence for a specially-converted disabled access minibus because its roof is too low.

Michael Gough, of Town Close, Finmere, paid £6,000 for the Nissan Primera minibus, which he hoped would be the first of a fleet of vehicles for his new firm.

But when he went to Cherwell District Council for a licence, he was told regulations stated vehicles must be 1,400mm high and his minibus fell short by 5mm.

Mr Gough, 28, bought the vehicle from Voyager MPV, a Crewe-based taxi manufacturer that specialises in making wheelchair accessible taxis, minibuses and vehicles.

He claims there was no mention in the council's licencing pack of height regulations.

He said: "It's like a kick in the teeth. I've spent £6,000 on a vehicle to do a specific job and I've then been told, you may not be allowed to do it. I was pretty disappointed."

Mr Gough is currently a postman, but decided he wanted a change of career and decided to set up a taxi business.

He said: "I looked into it and I thought the council seemed to be leading down the path that if you were going to have a taxi business, you needed one vehicle that would provide a service to disabled people. I thought I'd buy that one first as it's the most expensive. Now I don't know what to do with it."

Council licensing officer Ted Sargent said it had various conditions that drivers had to meet before they could get a taxi licence, but no official decision had yet been taken on Mr Gough.

He said he had inspected the minibus initially and warned Mr Gough that it did not match up to height specifications.

He said: "We always say to people who come in wanting to be drivers that they should talk to us before buying anything and then we can tell them what is and what isn't going to come up to requirements. The line has to be drawn somewhere."