A Bingley pensioner is battling a lifetime ban from entering all Co-op stores.

Kenneth Voss, 65, who is deaf and has trouble moderating his voice, says he has been accused of being “loud and rude” at the company’s Bingley store.

Co-op bosses have served him with a Notice of Exclusion which states: “This society is no longer prepared to allow you to enter any of its branches for any reason whatsoever.”

Mr Voss, of York Street, has sought legal advice in his fight to get the ban lifted but his solicitor has been unable to find out the full details of why it has been imposed.

Mr Voss said: “We just want answers.

“I don’t know why – I think it is personal. I am loud because I am hard of hearing. I wasn’t rude.”

Mr Voss and his disabled wife June have written to Co-op chief executive Peter Marks and intend to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

“We have been writing to them and so have our solicitors,” said Mr Voss.

Mrs Voss has rheumatoid arthritis and relies on her husband to do the shopping.

She said she felt because he is deaf, and speaks with a loud voice, staff might have mistaken him for being rude.

She said: “In my opinion it is because he talks loudly. It plays on his mind a lot and he takes it as a personal attack.”

In a letter to the Co-op, Mr Voss’s solicitors, Cleck-heaton firm Cadmans, have described the ban as “disproportionate”.

It states: “Our client is profoundly deaf, which makes it difficult for him to monitor the level of his voice.

“Our client categorically denies that he has ever been rude to any member of your staff and indeed would apologise immediately if he thought he had given any offence.”

The Co-op replied that the exclusion would remain, stating: “Mr Voss has been alleged to have caused our employees a significant amount of distress.”

A spokesman for the Co-operative Group told the Telegraph & Argus the ban had been imposed after “a number” of incidents at its Bingley store. It would not specify the circumstances of the incidents.

The spokesman said: “The decision to exclude the customer was taken after a full investigation following a number of incidents at our store. We do not take such action without good reason and the measure is entirely appropriate.”

e-mail: tanya.orourke@telegraphandargus.co.uk