Wheelchair-bound Sid Addy says new city centre bollards are robbing him of his regular pint.

The 70-year-old from Allerton, who has Parkinson’s disease, has been drinking in Ivegate since his teens and has still been turning up three times a week at The Cube pub with his live-in carer Murial Clough – until now.

He says the electronic bollards are discriminating against him and other disabled people because the officials operating them refuse to lower them to let their taxis through.

“I’ve been getting a taxi to take me door to door. I pay £12 each way and now I can’t even get to the pub door.

“They have to drop me and Muriel at the top or the bottom and we have to make our own way. It’s a hard push up for Muriel or if we go down the hill the chair just runs away from her with me in it. It’s dangerous for me and her.

“It’s bad enough being stuck in a wheelchair without the Council making it more awkward for me.”

Mr Addy, a retired panel-beater and car mechanic, is planning on writing to his local MP for help. He wants the Council to change its policy to allow taxis to drop off and pick-up passengers who are registered disabled.

The Cube’s manager, Tracy Barber, said she was fuming on Saturday when she pressed the buzzer and asked for the bollards to be lowered to let Mr Addy through.

“They refused even though I explained to them his wheelchair had broken,” she said Derek Greenaway, who also manages The Cube, said the bollard officials had even suggested an ambulance should be called to pick up Mr Addy, because it would be the only vehicle allowed through to get him.

“All we want is for the bollards to be operated a little more flexibly to show goodwill,” he said.

The bollards were introduced earlier this year as part of a £1.6 million programme to improve the area.

A Highways spokesman said despite Ivegate becoming a pedestrian zone some years ago, the system was “being abused and vehicles were still entering these zones.”

“Businesses were consulted before the highway orders were brought in and letters were sent out. At the time, there were no complaints,” he said.

“The bollards stay up because taxis are not allowed down Ivegate at any time. Deliveries are allowed between the hours of 4.30pm and 10.30am, but they have to use the intercom to be allowed through. The only vehicles allowed through at any time are emergency services, cash in transit and Royal Mail.”