A GREENOCK man spent a year converting a bus to take rescue dogs on days away - only to be told by the DVLA that it can't be classed as a motor caravan.

Brian Burt, 66, volunteers at Royal Heart Greyhound Rescue despite having chronic back pain and arthritis.

He transports dogs to and from the rescue centre and takes them for vet appointments.

His son worked for a bus company who were looking to dispose of vehicles after losing a school contract.

He son purchased one and gave it to his dad as a project, with Brian setting to work on converting it to take dogs away from the kennels for a day with volunteers.

In April he informed the DVLA of the changes to the bus to have it classified - and ran into trouble straight away.

Brian said: "I spent a year making all the modifications to the bus to meet the criteria of a motor caravan.

"I just wanted to do something good and help out the centre.

"They thought it was a great idea.

"I have been volunteering there for nine years, I'm down there every day.

"I just thought it would be a nice idea to get the dogs out of the kennels for a bit.

"It was all going well until I contacted the DVLA."

Brian sent information off to the organisation in a letter containing photographs of all the modifications inside and outside.

He waited three weeks and got no reply, and after two further attempts he finally heard back, with DVLA insisting the vehicle was still a bus.

Brian said: "I met all the stated criteria for a motor caravan and couldn't understand what the issue was, but they said it still looked like a bus.

"It isn't a bus because it can't carry fee paying passengers but it's also not classes as a motor caravan because it looks like a bus."

Brian says his case was then passed to the taxation department, where he was asked to send the information.

Officials there told him the vehicle could be classed as a private heavy goods vehicle - but a garage told him they couldn't MOT it as a HGV because it didn't have a load carrying capacity.

Brian said: "It's been very frustrating and disappointing.

"I don't know where to go from here.

"I don't know what else I can do to make it look like a motor caravan.

"I've been advised to join a caravan camping club and see if anyone else had done something similar, find out what they did and reapply."

Brian has now renewed the road tax for the bus and secured insurance and an MOT - but he is still unsure exactly what he owns and it seems that DVLA will not budge.

A spokesman said: “DVLA is required to record the details of vehicles for road safety and law enforcement.

"The body type information held on the vehicle record must describe what a vehicle actually looks like.

"This description, in addition to other distinguishing features, enables the police and other enforcement agencies to identify a particular vehicle.

"Therefore, the body type will not be changed unless the exterior of the vehicle actually appears to be a motor home.”