Tesco Extra in Stevenage to change parking with minimum spend restrictions

Changes at Tesco Extra in Stevenage town centre mean people will have to spend a minimum of £5 in the store to be eligible for three hours free parking on the site.

Changes at Tesco Extra in Stevenage town centre mean people will have to spend a minimum of £5 in the store to be eligible for three hours free parking at the site.

The supermarket chain says the store has long suffered from misuse of its car park because of its location, and is introducing the new system from Tuesday, September 20, in a bid to ease congestion for its customers.

Store manager Scott Bradley said: “We’ve received lots of feedback from customers that they’re increasingly frustrated by the lack of available parking spaces, because the facility is being misused by other motorists.

“As long as they meet the minimum spend of £5 in store, customers will be able to park for up to three hours. The minimum spend does not apply to customers who park for less than 30 minutes.”

Customers staying longer than 30 minutes will get a parking voucher at the till or self-service machines if they spend £5 or more.

Before leaving the car park you will need to use one of the touchscreen machines outside the store, putting in the last three letters of your number plate, selecting your vehicle, and scanning the barcode on the voucher.

Automatic number plate recognition will be used to monitor the car park and those that don’t follow the restrictions could be given a £70 fine.