Car lover Scott Reynolds needed a stiff drink after being banned from his local - for parking his black hearse outside the pub.

Scott, 26, bought the motor from an undertaker for £1,000 and fitted it out with a plastic skull in the back window that flashes every time he brakes.

But landlord Ivan Coupe blew a gasket when Scott kept parking his three-litre Ford Consul in the pub car park and barred him from The White Horse at Kings Sutton, near Banbury.

Mr Coupe told him that he didn't want villagers thinking one of his customers had died every time Scott pulled in for a pint. Scott, who works for a firm in Banbury which makes cardboard boxes, said: "I have been a regular at The White Horse for eight years and Ivan's a great landlord.

"But I can't see a problem with driving a hearse. The girls love it and I have already had two asking if they can lie down in the back!

"When I pulled up the first time, Ivan and a couple of regulars started gagging on their pints until they saw it was me driving the hearse.

"I know a few of his regulars are getting on in years but I explained I was only coming in for a pint and not to take them off in a box. But Ivan won't have it and now I'm barred from the boozer."

Mr Coupe said: "I wasn't impressed and my regulars weren't either. I don't want the locals thinking a customer has pegged it every time he comes in.

"It's a bit sick and he's barred for as long as he has the hearse."

Scott's mum Denise, 49, who lives at Dairy Ground, Kings Sutton, said she thought her son had been harshly treated.

"I haven't been out in the hearse yet but I think Scott's got a bargain. There is no reason why he shouldn't be able to park outside the pub.

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