THE VICAR of Modbury has been banned from a Plympton car dealership after posting a video online complaining about his vehicle problems.

Reverend Neil Barker turned to YouTube in his bid to get his Skoda Fabia fixed. He also visited the Murray Skoda dealership and apparently took photographs of staff.

As a result of his actions, he has been banned from the site.

Matt Stott, operations manager at the Valley Road business, said he felt that Mr Barker's behaviour had been "bizarre" and "unacceptable".

Mr Stott said he was unhappy with the way that Mr Barker dealt with members of staff at the dealership.

The 57-year-old vicar of St George's Church has reportedly been trying to get the Skoda, which is said to be still under warranty, repaired since soon after he bought it in January 2009.

He said: "I am getting fed up with Skoda who are not sorting out the problem and in desperation I am turning to the internet."

Mr Barker declined to comment any further on the matter.

The video, which has since been removed, was one minute and 20 seconds long and entitled 'Skoda service'. It featured text and images to highlight what he claims were faults with the car. The clip, which by last night had been watched by 759 people, opened with a picture of the Skoda badge set to a backdrop of dramatic piano music.

The letters of 'Skoda' were then rearranged on the screen to make the words 'sad ok' and 'do ask'.

Later in the clip he listed what he claims are problems with the car, which include the power-assisted steering failing and the automatic braking system failure light continuously coming on.

It ended with a quote from Skoda which read "we don't just make cars, we manufacture happy drivers".

"Really? Not this one" then flashed up.

Matt Stott, operations manager at Murray Skoda, said he considered Mr Barker's behaviour had been "bizarre" and "unacceptable".

The 30-year-old said: "He didn't buy the vehicle from us; it seems he is trying his best to tarnish our name.

"We pride ourselves on being number one in the South West for customer service.

"This man seems to be trying to destroy our reputation. I think he's been behaving very bizarrely and it's completely unacceptable.

"As a result of his actions we have banned him from the site."

Mr Stott said in his 10 years of experience working in the industry, he had never known anything like this to happen.

Mr Stott said the problem with Mr Barker's car appears to revolve around the anti-lock braking system (ABS) and his staff had tried to fix the issue.

"We've asked Reverend Barker to come in on specific times when the ABS light has been on, but he hasn't," Matt added.

"That would enable us to plug the car in and see what the problem is.

"Unfortunately, he has not popped in when we have asked him to, so we have been unable to do anything about it."