A bus company which runs its vehicles on used cooking oil has been forced off the road for the second time because of a legal wrangle.

The Big Lemon Bus Company has been told by the traffic commissioner to stop running services along its number 42 route in Brighton until the end of February.

In December last year the bus company was squeezed off the road because of financial difficulties.

The company was told by the traffic commissioner that it had to continue the service until January 29 but that it could also apply for a new slimmed-down route.

Mr Druitt had hoped there would not be a break between the old service and the new one, which would no longer run as far as Brighton train station.

The traffic commissioner, which hands out operating licences to bus companies, decided the application for the new route had to run its full course and could not be short-notice application.

As a result, services from the Big Lemon have to start on February 28.

Mr Druitt said: "We are quite frustrated really. We applied in the right way, we got the support of the council and they wanted it to start on Wednesday so there wasn't a break in provision for local people but the traffic commissioner has taken no notice of them."

He added: "When we found out it was already less than 56 days before January 29 so if we wanted to apply for a new service to carry on, we had to do it under a short-notice application "If we did it under the usual 56 days notice period there would be a break between January 29 and whenever the next one would start. That's what we wanted to avoid.

"To be honest we didn't expect him to make this decision at all. We thought the case for him letting us start immediately was unarguable."

A spokesman for the traffic commissioner said: "An application was received from the Big Lemon Bus Company to register a new service. The company requested a commencement date of 29 January 2008 to allow a continuation of their service following the cancellation of the existing service on that date.

"Bus services are required to give at least 56 days notice to the traffic commissioner when they intend to introduce, cancel or vary the timetable or route of a registered local bus service. This is a legal requirement.

"The 56 day notice period can be reduced to a shorter period only in exceptional circumstances which are set out in the regulations and are at the discretion of the traffic commissioner. A reduction of commercial viability is not considered an exceptional circumstance.

"The new registration has been accepted with effect from February 28.Having considered Mr Druitt's representations, the traffic commissioner does not consider that there are any exceptional circumstances which justify his allowing a short-notice registration.î What do you think about the Big Lemon being off the roads?