Parked cars are making it difficult for a social services bus to collect a disabled student who needs transport to attend an Oxford college.

Vehicles parked at the ends of Edgeway Road and Ferry Road in New Marston, Oxford, by people who use the streets for free parking are making it impossible for the bus to reach Aron Whitehouse's home.

Aron, 19, uses a wheelchair because he has cerebral palsy and needs transport to take him to Oxford College of Further Education, where he is following a supported learning course.

Julie Duffy, a social services driver and escort, said that Aron's home was at the far end of Ferry Road where there was no turning space for vehicles. The only way Mrs Duffy can get back on to Marston Road is to drive along Ferry Lane, a narrow un-adopted lane that connects Ferry Road with Edgeway Road. Cars parked along Ferry Lane and on the corners approaching it are making it impossible for the bus to use the link road, so Mrs Duffy's only option is to reverse the length of Ferry Road.

Mrs Duffy said: "The cars parked there are not just dropping off, they are there all day from when I pick Aron up first thing in the morning to when I take him home in the afternoon."

Aron's father, Ted Whitehouse, said that an escort sometimes has to knock on their door so that Aron can be taken along the road to meet the bus because the driver cannot reach their front door.

He said he was also concerned that cars parked in Ferry Lane were a hazard to cyclists. The narrow road is marked as a cycle path and gives access to the main cycle route to the city centre across the university parks.

According to Oxford City Council, Ferry Lane is a privately-owned road and its only formal public status is as a footpath. A spokesman for the council said that it intends to formalise the status of the Ferry Lane cycle path if funding is made available from the county council.

The spokesman added: "Even when ownership is established it is unlikely to be appropriate to prohibit motor vehicle access to this length of road due to the access needs of the area."

Parking on the lane is not a traffic offence and it would be difficult for the police to carry out enforcement against obstruction because it is a private road.

Marston councillor Mary Clarkson said: "I would support double yellow lines along Ferry Lane because of the implications for Aron Whitehouse, but besides his individual case there is also the more pressing issue of the conflicting interests of cyclists, pedestrians and cars in this narrow lane."