Florida health inspectors have ruled that an adorable chocolate Labrador retriever familiar to many regular customers at a Clearwater gas station will no longer be able to join his owner at work.

Wearing a BP logo shirt and name tag, the cute Cody would often draw grins from customers when he greeted them at the drive-through window of the station. Sadly, the pooch has been given his walking papers. City officials say Cody simply isn’t up to code; local law mandates that only service animals are allowed inside food establishments — no exceptions.

The Clearwater BP station’s owner, Karim Mansour, adopted Cody from a local animal rescue more than fie years ago. He says he received a warning from the Florida Department of Health on Thursday, informing him that Cody would have to go or all of the store’s food — mostly bottled soda, candy, and other snacks for the road — would be declared unfit for consumption.

“There’s no way my dog’s hair would get inside a bag of Doritos or a Snickers bar. All of our food comes already pre-packaged,” Mansour explains.

Poor Cody. Isn’t there some way the store could keep him as long as they agree to keep him out of areas stocked with food? The bodega near my dad’s house in Manhattan used to keep this real snappy tomcat with a penchant for sleeping on top of the bread. Yuck! If city officials allow that, certainly they can make an exception for a well-mannered Lab like Cody….