Advertisement
Now you see them... now you don’t
Reporter: by JENNIFER HOLLAMBY
Date online: 06 July 2009
VANDALS gave a damning verdict on the new Sainsbury’s parking barriers — by snatching them away in the middle of the night.
Weekend shoppers were surprised to discover they had free reign in the Oldham store’s car park over the weekend, after the barriers were removed during a night raid.
David Makin, from Dobcross, said: “I went shopping yesterday to discover that the barriers weren’t there and just made the assumption that they hadn’t been very popular, so Sainsbury’s had decided to take them down.
“It was only when my wife asked, that we were told they had been vandalised.”
Ben Hoyle, duty manager at the Union Street store, confirmed that the barriers has been stolen, saying: “I wasn’t here at the time, but we think they were taken during the night on Thursday or Friday.”
The new barriers were introduced just weeks ago to deter motorists who park on the car park and then go to work or shopping in the town centre.
Under the new scheme, shoppers will take a swipe card at the barrier, which will allow them 30 minutes’ free parking.
But drivers must now spend £5 or more in Sainsbury’s or TK Maxx and have their swipe card validated at a checkout if they are to get the full two hours’ free parking they once enjoyed.
Mr Makin added: “It must have been either boy racers, who drive around the car park at night, or disgruntled shoppers making a statement. Either way, you can’t support wanton vandalism like that.
“The big question is how on earth did they get them out of the ground? I don’t know whether they tied their car to them and drove off, or what.”
But any hope drivers might have had of enjoying free parking courtesy of Sainsbury’s have been quashed, with a new set of barriers due to be up and running this morning.
Mr Hoyle said: “We erected those barriers because our customers were struggling to park and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback since we put them up.”
Comments
It won't be long before Sainsburys realise their mistake by installing the barriers in the first place. ASDA in Ashton did the same thing about 5 years ago to deter people parking there. They were removed within 18 months once they realised shoppers had now gone for their shopping elsewhere rather than get stung for parking....tut-tut..only in the UK
sainsburys cctv is useless! having been the victim on there i know first hand how useless it was. it didnt even work!
The new Tescos has plenty of free parking as does westwood tesco and shaw asda. Oh and they are cheaper, good work sainsburys.
This is the worst idea Sainsbury's has ever had i used to shop ther but it isn't worth the hassle< gone back to Tesco!
Well done Sainsbury's ...not as popular as you thought!
I didnt even know they had done the parking system but i think its a good idea, i only went to sainsburys a couple of times and found it difficult at best to park so deterring people who are not even shopping there is a good thing. If i could have parked there i would have gone more but the car park was full of people not shopping there so i went to asda instead!
Give sainsburys a break, stop being so tight and pay for parking or better still use public transport!
I have a blue badge and before these barriers where put up had a terrible job trying to park anywhere near to the door never mind in a disabled space.I know for a fact that a lot of people who never shop in Sainsburys have been parking on there and weekends in particular used to be awful.
A money making scheme gone wrong, surely a group like Sainsbury should have done their homework, there are a lot better schemes which would have driven away illegal parkers
and given better security for those who shop there,
Start with a Professional Security Assessment you know it makes sense.
Yes, the two mega tescos do have free parking but they are used for shopping AT TESCO whereas those here are used as a free town centre car park. I will be inconvenienced by not being able to use this car park now but it's their land and they can let on and charge whatever they want. Lets hope the wardens will now ticket the selfish idiots parking in disabled bays they shouldn't be in.
Yes it is their land and they can charge what they want - we can also shop where we want.
I for one will not shop there until they have removed the barriers - lawfully
I certainly don't condone vandalism, but I had to laugh at this one. I think this is more of a 'statement' from Oldhamers who are certainly fed up of rip-off parking fees. I used to shop at TK Maxx but do not now, due to the fact that I have to pay £2 if I don't manage to find anything within 30 mins. This is ridiculous. Sure, I can understand that the car-park is not meant for all-day parking, but the genuine shopper is now being punished.
Have Your Say
Sure it was vandals? How come Sainsbury's CCTV didn't see them. Or maybe Sainsbury's realised that charging for parking when the car park is NOT supervised, is illegal and took them away themselves ?
By morgana60 @ 06/07/2009 13:14:44