A new scheme is being rolled out by Tesco to stop people misusing parking bays, which will see employees of the supermarket giant using handheld devices to catch out cheats.
Currently, the scheme is being trialled at 81 stores, with the intention being that it will roll out to a further 200 locations at a later date.
Tesco parking officials will use the new technology to record information from drivers’ blue badges, which is then sent to Horizon automatically. Horizon is a parking company with access to the DVLA’s database, and those who are found to be abusing the parking bay system will face a £40 fine.
One of the Big Four, along with Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, Tesco has the largest market share. However, it has insisted that no money will be made from the scheme, with the intention purely to address complaints from people who cannot park in disabled or children’s bays due to others wrongfully parking there.
“The new self-monitoring scheme allows stores to better control their car park, to help protect the disabled bays,” said Cat Parkinson, Tesco’s car park operations executive.
“Selected stores have been given a monitoring device, which enables them to issue parking charge notices (PCN) to people misusing these spaces. This makes parking at Tesco fairer for everyone. We want to change attitudes towards the misuse of disabled bays by highlighting the importance of disabled bays being used properly. I hope the scheme will help our disabled customers shop with ease in our stores.”
