An artist from Mid Wales is finding it hard to find a parking “plaice” for his car since converting it into a giant fish.

Andy Hazell, from Knighton, has spent thousands of pounds turning his Vauxhall Corsa car into a model of a sea bass.

There are 320 fluorescent lights along the fish’s streamlined aluminium body and 12-volt motors operate the moving parts.

But, with it measuring 6.2m from nose to tail, Mr Hazell admits he cannot easily fit it into conventional parking spaces.

The 48-year-old can not actually drive his car on the road but has taken it on a trailer to several venues across the UK including the Glowmobiles event in Gateshead, Newcastle on New Year’s Eve – a parade consisting of a dazzling array of illuminated art cars and other amazing vehicles.

He said: “I get lots of fishy looks, but I have a whale of a time driving it – until I try to park. It’s just too big.”

Other unusual projects include a tree made out of fish, which stands at the Children’s Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Mr Hazell said he had also built a orrery, a mechanical model of the solar system, for a BBC programme about composer Gustav Holst, who is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets.

The orrery later featured in an episode of the BBC’s Doctor Who.

By Anwen Evans