Tesco will be blocking the entrance to its Brislington store on Sunday nights, a local councillor has said, due to the "intolerable" car meets that have been taking place in the empty car park.
Cllr Jos Clark said that she and Cllr Andrew Varney, both of Brislington West, have been working with the manager of the store to resolve the issue that is apparently a regular occurrence on Sunday evenings.
A spokesperson for Tesco told Bristol Live that the company is aware of the car meets and is working with the councillors and the neighbourhood policing team to put in place measures "to help deter antisocial behaviour".
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The Brislington West councillors have written on Facebook about the issue of "noisy, late night car meets" in the empty car park of the Tesco Extra store in Brislington, saying that they have received "numerous complaints from local residents which prompted us to get in touch with the police, Council and Tesco in order to find a solution".
The Tesco Extra store, located on Callington Road, is open until midnight every day except Sunday, when it closes at 4pm. This means that the car park is often empty and accessible to members of the public from the early evening onwards.
Cllrs Clark and Varney said that they have been in touch with Tesco in an attempt to resolve the situation, and Cllr Clark posted an update to her Facebook page, saying: "If you live near the store you will be only too aware that Sunday nights have become intolerable with cars meeting in the car park. Cllr Andrew Varney and I have been working with the store manager to try and get this situation sorted out. After last Sunday’s meet the situation came to a head and the store manager realised that they have to do something quickly to resolve the situation.
She continued: "Tesco’s have agreed to fit barriers across the entrances to the car park which will be put down when the store closes on Sunday evenings. This however is not a quick solution so in the interim they have decided to place a van at the entrances to the car park to stop the cars coming in.
"I hope this will help the situation for all who have been affected."
Cllr Varney echoed those comments in a similar post updating residents on what he has been up to.
Last week police in Bristol tweeted out a photo of a trolley 'barrier' at the car park, advising: "Brislington [neighbourhood policing team] are working with Tesco Brislington to combat ASB car meets at the store. Last weekend Police and security blocked access to the car park to prevent a large vehicle meet by using the stores trollies until permanent measure can be implemented."
In a statement, a Tesco spokesperson said: “We are aware that recently there have been some gatherings of motorists in the car park of our Brislington Extra store outside of store opening hours, and our store manager has met with the ward councillor to discuss residents’ concerns.
"We are working closely with the neighbourhood policing team and taking temporary measures to help deter antisocial behaviour, while we evaluate longer-term measures that can be put in place.”
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