TAMPA, Fla. (UPI) -- A Florida man said Starbucks has lifted a lifetime ban he was given for asking people not to illegally use parking spaces reserved for the disabled.

Rob Rowen, who said he has been patronizing the Tampa Starbucks for several years, said he recently started asking drivers to move their cars after he noticed how often vehicles were parked in the handicapped-accessible spaces without the proper placards on their cars.

"My son-in-law has muscular dystrophy and is in a power wheelchair. I've seen so many times, the issue of him trying to find a parking space," Rowen told WTSP-TV.

He said his efforts began by telling a man he would publicly embarrass him for parking illegally, and he later had a confrontation with a woman after snapping a picture of her license plate.

"She said, 'I'm calling the police, you're harassing me.' I said, 'go right ahead,' so she ended up getting a ticket, which felt really good," Rowen said.

He said a complaint from a driver whom he had asked to move led to a confrontation with the store's manager, who told him he was banned from the store. Rowen said he appealed to the district manager, but was told the ban would be upheld because he was "harassing people."

Rowen said he later received a letter from Starbucks in the mail, and he expected it to contain an apology. However, he said it instead told him he was banned from all of the chain's locations worldwide.

"I regret to inform you you've been expelled from Starbucks," Rowen quoted the letter as saying.

Laurel Harper, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said Rowen's attitude upset the chain's "welcoming environment."

"We understand Mr. Rowen's concerns and have been speaking with him about this. Unfortunately, he became confrontational toward other customers, and we have asked him to refrain from visiting the store. We expect all of our customers to treat each other and our partners [employees] respectfully. We have been speaking with the landlord to improve the parking situation."

Rowen said in a Facebook post he spoke with a Starbucks senior vice president from the Austin regional office and the ban was lifted.

"The ban is lifted, but it is not about the ban, it is about the way they relate to their handicapped patrons. I told him [there] needs to be change to their store and local regional managers as they did not seem alarmed about protecting their disabled customers, but more alarmed about protecting their illegally parking customers," he wrote.

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