THE parking stand-off between a motorist and a council which has seen a £20,000 car trapped by a bus shelter is no closer to being resolved.

Council officials are adamant that they won't dismantle a shelter that's blocking the posh Honda Accord parked in Middlesbrough town centre.

The owner of the car has been at loggerheads with local council officials over his right to park on the privately owned frontage of his office.

Local authority planners reckon the car is restricting pedestrian access.

Things were made worse when a decision was taken to build a bus shelter in front of the building on busy Borough Road.

Workmen installing the shelter saw the car arrive and park up, but carried on with their work - and sandwiched him in.

Now the owner is forced to watch as passers-by - annoyed at having their path blocked - kick and scratch his pride and joy.

Yesterday the council agreed it's contractors had wedged the Honda in - but maintained that a good driver could probably edge out.

"It will be difficult for him to move it, but not impossible,'' conceded a spokesman who said the company car had been marooned on its own private parking space for a week.

But that is the only concession the council will make. Workmen continued installing the shelter after the driver arrived for work and watched him park nose in to the wall of listed York House, the offices of the Marske Machine Company, owners of the car. Even though the gap between the shelter and the car can be measured in millimetres.

The council, who ordered the bus shelter to be built on its present site, says it stays put. The council spokesman said: "We hope the driver will move it. It is clearly causing some difficulty and it is a problem.''

Solicitors for car owners, Marske Machine Company say the car parked correctly on the owner's section of pavement is not the problem - the bus shelter is.

A lawyer's letter to the council warning what would happen if the shelter was installed at its present location, met the response that while there might be a little inconvenience to the property owner, a lot more people would benefit by the move.