London, 28 March 2008 - A man who claimed to be the tallest man on the planet has failed to take the title - but he does have the world's biggest hands.

Hussain Bisad, an asylum seeker from Neasden, north-west London, was aiming to take the world's tallest man title away from the current holder Tunisian Radhouane Charbib, who stands at 7ft 8.9ins tall.

A spokesman for Guinness World Records said: "We are recognising his height as being 7ft 7.5ins, which means he is the tallest Somalian and the second tallest man in the world.

"He also has the biggest hand span of any living man."

Special measurements

Guinness is also looking into the possibility that the difference in height between Mr Bisad and his twin sister Khardra, who is about 5ft 5ins, is a world record.

The Somalian was measured using a standard procedure for recording official heights which involves taking six measurements during a single day and then finding the average.

Mr Bisad is the second tallest man

This is because people are at a different height when they wake up from when they go back to bed.

The 27-year-old Somalian, who has been living in London since last year, has size 26 feet, weighs 33 stone and has to sleep in a nine-feet long bed.

Doctors have, however, expressed concerns about Mr Bisad's health, especially if he is still growing.

Mr Bisad came to the UK as an asylum seeker after robbers shot him in the knee in Somalia.

He travelled by lorry to Ethiopia before getting on a plane to the UK, where airline staff had to allocate him two seats.

The Home Office has now given him permission to stay in Britain indefinitely because he is deemed a legitimate asylum seeker.

The world's tallest ever man was American Robert Wadlow, who died in 1940, at 8ft 11ins.

Source: BBC News