Some people are outraged at a change to Tesco‘s parking rules.
An X user recently took to the social media app to share a picture of the new parking sign at their local Tesco. It revealed there is now a “maximum” stay limit for late night shoppers, giving them just a third of the time given to those shopping during the day.
From 6am to 8pm, shoppers receive three hours of free parking at the store. Those wanting to do their food shop at 8pm to 12am get one hour, and those looking to park from 12am to 6am get just 30 minutes.
The X user wrote: “Hey @Tesco I do my shopping at night so I can wander round without my kids and buy nice things that I can hide and eat by myself. It’s a couple of hours to myself once a week. This new policy sucks.”
They claimed in other posts: “For further info, it’s because they’re planning on putting a BK drive through in the bottom of the car park. Mo money mo money. I know to a lot of people this probably seems petty and not a big deal, but to anyone who either has kids or works weird hours and has to shop in the evening, or for anyone neurodivergent it’s absolutely not okay.
“I’m aware the store is shut 12-6am, I’m talking about when I like to go at 9pm for a couple of hours when it’s nice and quiet and I can shop in peace. Literally can’t believe I’m having to justify myself to some of you absolute b*****ds.”
And she wasn’t the only one upset with the change, as others argued it would inconvenience those who need/want to shop at quieter hours.
Another X user chimed in: “I second that @Tesco. I know people who suffer with anxiety do their shops at night as it’s quiet and much more calmer atmosphere.”
A third user agreed, but suggested there might be a reason behind the change too. They said: “Yeah that’s pretty discriminatory… It might be because a lot of Tesco car parks get used as boy racer car meets late at night.”
A fourth said: “I saw this in the community group yesterday. Very odd decision by Tesco. I agree with the person who said it should be a blanket 3 hours while the store is open and 30 minutes at all other times.”
A Tesco spokesperson said the change is aimed in part at combating “anti-social behaviour” at night.
They said: “It is important to us that all our customers can find a space when they visit our stores and, where we have parking limits in place, this is to allow us to better manage spaces, and to deter anti-social behaviour in the car park at night, especially outside of opening hours.”