A car clamper accused of abusing people at a Haworth car park has been stopped from working by his bosses, a court was told.

George McDicken, 38, is said to have been racist to one customer and used aggressive and intimidating behaviour to others.

He appeared at a hearing at Leeds Magistrates' Court when Bradford Council attempted to make him the subject of an interim anti-social behaviour order (Asbo).

Deputy District Judge Professor Mary Hayes decided not to grant the order on the condition he did not continue in his job until the outcome of a full Asbo hearing.

McDicken's employer, Carstoppers, submitted a written undertaking to say it would not allow him to work in any of its car parks before the case is settled.

His security badge is being held by his solicitor, Paul Fitzpatrick, who guaranteed to the court that he would keep it until the case concludes.

Car park users have been complaining about Mr McDicken's behaviour at the Changegate car park in Haworth for the last five years, the court was told.

The car park is owned by Edward Evans and it was his son Gareth who ran Carstoppers.

Sixteen complaints have been logged by Bradford Council between October and March and seven were reported previously.

Recordings of conversations, featuring arguments between Mr McDicken, of Ling Park Approach, Wilsden, and car park customers, will be used as evidence in the full hearing at a date yet to be set.

Prosecuting, Ken Green said: "Clamping is lawful, but we say Mr McDicken acted way beyond that lawful exercise of clamping and acted in a manner which was intimidatory, threatening and abusive to members of the public who may be errant motorists but do not, cannot, justify being treated in this way.

"It is expected that the very nature of Mr McDicken's duties might often lead to tempers being lost and words exchanged, nevertheless his behaviour is such that he is causing considerable harassment, which is alarming and distressing to visitors to the car park."

Mr Green also said Mr McDicken's lewd and insulting manner and scruffy appearance had upset visitors.

One elderly motorist was so concerned by his behaviour that she had been reluctant to give him her credit card details to pay a fine.

Another motorist accused him of getting into his vehicle, racing it round the car park and blocking the entrance because he had displayed his ticket the wrong way up.

The court also heard allegations that Mr McDicken made a racist comment to a member of the public. He was never prosecuted over the matter, the court heard.

In defence, Mr Fitzpatrick said it was the motorists who fell foul of the parking regulations who were acting irrationally and their annoyance at being clamped meant their complaints were exaggerated.

He said his client often looked scruffy as he had to get on the ground to clamp the vehicles with greasy equipment. "People are intimidated by his appearance not his behaviour," he told the court.

He also said: "Alone, these complaints seem a significant number, but in the context of the hundreds of thousands of visitors since 2002, the numbers are relatively few."

A date for the full hearing has yet to be fixed.

l In 2003 Carstoppers won the RAC Dick Turpin Award for the nation's worst clamper.

The company reportedly immobilised one car while the driver was asleep inside and showed no sympathy to a wheelchair user and her husband who arrived late after struggling up a hill.