A retired couple were slapped with a fine after getting stuck for hours in a gridlocked supermarket car park.
David Mather, 70, visited Tesco Extra in North Shields with his wife Helen, 69, the day before the Queen's funeral. They said that due to the huge number of vehicles attempting to get in and out of the car park they were unable to leave the area in their Honda.
David said the only combined entrance and exit was being controlled by traffic lights and vehicles were at a standstill. Former care worker Helen decided to walk the one-and-a-half mile journey home as she realised the traffic was unlikely to clear.
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When Helen got home, she rang David and he was still in the same position. It took him around two hours to exit the car park in his vehicle, after leaving the store on the afternoon of Sunday, September 18.
The couple, from North Shields, were left stunned a week later when they received a £70 parking charge through the post for exceeding the maximum stay from Horizon Parking, who operates the car park on behalf of Tesco.
The car park, just off Norham Road, allows drivers to park for free for the first three hours before they are handed a £70 charge. David said that the only reason he went over the three hour period was because the car park was completely gridlocked.
The retired electrical engineer said: "I was absolutely bouncing off the wall. I thought how dare they. I couldn't actually get out of there and they are trying to fine me for staying too long! The irony - you couldn't make it up as fiction. I think it's absolutely crazy.
"It's really a punishment for staying in a parking space when I wasn't really in a parking space. Helen feels incensed as well, it's just unbelievable. I was not a happy bunny when I opened that letter."
David said they regularly shop at Tesco and had spent £85 in store on the day in question. He said that between August 18 and September 18 they had also spent more than £300 at Tesco.
He said that on the day he received the charge, he went to see the manager of the store and was told, the following day, that there was nothing they could do and he would have to appeal the decision. David said he also tried to contact Tesco's complaints department and their Headquarters but they were unable to help.
David said: "I have not had a problem with Tesco before and the problem is not necessarily with the whole of Tesco, it's with their attitude towards this. I think we will be less likely now to shop at Tesco."
After being contacted by Chronicle Live, Tesco cancelled the parking charge notice. A spokesperson for the company said: "We are sorry to hear about this and have now cancelled this customer's PCN."
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