An angry customer staged his own 'four wheel sit down protest' at Slough's Mercedes-Benz centre - when staff refused to accept the £170 in cash he offered to pay for a part he had ordered.

Andrew Maccuish, 59, of Trelawney Avenue, Langley had ordered the part a day before to fit onto his beloved decade old Mercedes car.

He has credit cards but prefers cash, so drew the money out specially before going to the Bath Road centre on Friday.

He said: "I was told they don't accept cash. I could not believe it and asked to see the manager but was told it would not make any difference."

He was shown a sign on the counter stating that 'from October 1 Mercedes-Benz is going cashless'.

He said: "I don't believe a company should just decide on its own account to create a 'cash free society'. The red light had come on in my car because I needed the part so I just left it there blocking their car park, I told them it clearly was not safe to drive away without the part."

In the end the team at the centre gave in, took Mr Maccuish's money and let him have the part.

But the business really has gone cash free. Mr Maccuish said there were no facilities to give him change so the company had to let him off £10.

He says he is worried about older people who might not have cards or even bank accounts, who he thinks are being increasingly sidelined because their lifestyles do not conform to other peoples'.

A comment from the Mercedes-Benz company, said: "Mercedes-Benz of Slough is operated by our Franchise Partner, Vertu Motors PLC, who prefer cashless transactions for security reasons."