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RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

AndyH — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 22:53:42 GMT

Yes I was there, as DNW said in one of the earlier posts.

3 hours I was trying to get out of that car park, and in the end I left by foot with the rest of my family. I recovered my car at about 10 that night and there was still alot of cars there that other people had abandoned.

Tesco said they could not do anything to stop people coming into the car park and jamming it up more, and the police said it was not their responsibility as it was on private land. So, hundreds of people suffered and nobody was responsible for the situation!?

Not really much more that I can add that hasn't already been said, but I thought I would share the moment with the Forum. Aren't camera phones great!!!!

Good job it wasn't raining aswell, then I really would have been hacked off.:angry::angry:

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 20:21:41 GMT

At least they didn't clamp anyone for staying longer than two hours!

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

Dancemix — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 09:41:37 GMT

Hmmm, I got caught in this, but parked up in the sports centrcar park and it only took about 1/2 hour to get a pint of milk:w00t: You can bet that Tesco will address this quite quickly as I guess it's impacting their profits big time!

And Sainsbury now have a new parking scheme too....

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

JLC — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:36:02 GMT

God, that poor lady. It sounded a complete nightmare.

Like I say, we got off incredibly lightly. The valid point of emergency services should be taken seriously, too.

Just one point, I know the store are blaming HDC, but I think you'll find it's West Sussex County Council who are responsible for roads/highways..... their offices are actually located at the rear of Tesco, so I don't think it will be long before something is done about the problem, especially when it will affect their staff getting home ;)

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

DotNetWebs — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:14:55 GMT

Here is a copy of an email I have just recieved from 'Katy' that has also been sent to the County Times:

"My family and I were there on Friday afternoon. We arrived at 4pm on our way to Petworth for a weekend away camping. The carpark was very busy and we had to park at the far end, close to the pedestrian footbridge. My husband went into the shop whilst I stayed with our two boys - it was our eldest sons 6th birthday. He returned to the car at 4.15pm and there we stayed for the next three hours. The whole carpark was grid locked, cars were still being allowed into the carpark adding to the chaos. One of the Tescos management team called Phill told my husband, it was like this the other day, it'll clear in about 20 minute, just be patient, it's the same for us when we finish our shift. We also requested that there were many people like ourselves with young children and would be grateful for some water. It was at least another hour before Tesos staff emerged with some water and some cups. All things considered the mood was pretty calm, what got peoples backs up was Tesco saying it's not our fault and we can't do anything about it. The police also were unhelpful saying that basically it wasn't a police matter, it was private property - no one took charge of the situation to resolve what was happening. There were many people around us who had to get out for work, so were just parking their cars back up in spaces and walking. Many people phoned the police, one motorist called 5 times. My husband called Spirit FM, just to warn other people. We arranged for friends who we were camping with to drive back to Horsham from Petworth to pick us up. We left the car in the carpark, took two trolleys bundled the tent in one and the essentials for our two young boys in the other. When we got out to the road the police had arrived and had finally closed the road into Tescos and were directing the traffic. My husband and the friend returned much later on that night to rescue our car and all our belongings. He said that there were dozens of cars scattered all around the carpark that was approx 1015pm.

I dread to think that had there have been an emergency, for example the need for an ambulance or a fire engine, one would never have got through.

Tescos management told us that HDC insisted on the rear access road being closed during the redevelopment for health and safety reasons. The council obviously didn't consider public safety when making this decision."

Katy

------

Thanks for sharing that with us Katy.

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

PvtWooly — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 13:35:39 GMT

I feel sorry for anyone near the location of Tesco or Sainsbury's. with severe traffic Jams to get into either area, Emergency Medical care was delayed getting to sainsburys due to heavy traffic on saturday.

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

DotNetWebs — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:47:28 GMT

The County Times have picked up on this story now:

http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?sectionid=507&articleid=2960260

One women was apparently held up by 3 & 3/4 hours!

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 10:50:44 GMT

It would explain the queue to get into Sainsbury's on Friday evening around 8:00PM!

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

JLC — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 19:12:44 GMT

I'm not surprised the local media got hold of the story; there were a lot of disgruntled customers on Friday :crazy:

I think Horsham Sainsburys will see a huge increase in their profits over the next few months....

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:35:17 GMT

Radio Mercury were running a story on it - I would have gone mad - or abandoned the car and walked home

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

JLC — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:47:42 GMT

[quote][b]DotNetWebs (15/06/2007)[/b][hr]

I spoke to Andy (I'm a toaster) H earlier this evening who was stuck there tonight for THREE HOURS!!!!! :crazy:[/quote]

:exclamation:

Good god, THREE HOURS! We got off incredibly lightly then!!!!

RE: BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

DotNetWebs — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:34:38 GMT

Hi JLC

Thanks for posting this and warning others what they may be in for if they attempt to enter the Tesco's car park while this work is going on. I spoke to Andy (I'm a toaster) H earlier this evening who was stuck there tonight for THREE HOURS!!!!! :crazy:

I am sure he will have something to add when he gets back from a weekend break which got of to a really bad start due to this fiasco (apparently he only went in to buy some beer!)

Regards

BROADBRIDGE HEATH, TESCO - PARKING FIASCO!

JLC — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:11:13 GMT

Thought this was the perfect place just to warn all you regular Tesco users that the Broadbridge Heath Superstore is now undergoing its refit to incorporate an extension to the rear of the building.

Now the works are being undertaken, the service road has been shut and some of the parking spaces are not in use at the Leisure Centre due to builders portakabins taking up residence! This has caused untold problems in queuing for parking spaces, leading to gridlock and tail-backs throughout the car park. Drivers were stuck in queues of traffic for anything up to an hour :crazy: I know, we were there!!!

I have to say I felt terribly sorry for the manager and his staff, as I witnessed them getting verbal abuse left, right and centre from incredibly irate customers who had abandoned their cars and come into the store to complain.

Apparently it's not the repsonsibility of the Police to assist with the redirection of the traffic, as it is a private car park. However, whilst we were there the store had called the Police again as tempers had begun to fly and they turned up just as we were coming out!

No-one at Tesco could say when or if the parking situation would be resolved, so you have been warned :ermm:

All this just to buy tonight's dinner!