Tesco starts parking blitz

"Magic eye" sensors will be used to identify motorists clogging up parking bays at a Kidderminster supermarket and forcing shoppers to seek spaces elsewhere.

The new technology is going on trial at Tesco and bosses say it will improve the way the car park is monitored by the store's parking attendants.

It is the only branch in the West Midlands where the sensors are being piloted. If they prove successful, they will be rolled out to stores nationally.

The sensors will alert parking wardens when a car has been left for more than the two-hour limit.

They are in the form of small, flat, black discs, installed in each space.

The Kidderminster store has the company's "most stringent time limit" because there has been a history of people taking advantage of the free car park to visit the town rather than the supermarket.

Felix Gummer, corporate affairs spokesman for Tesco, said: "Kidderminster is one of a small number stores trialling the new technology.

"It means instead of using a number plate recognition system, we can use the sensors. The technology will sense when somebody has been in the bay for more than two hours and alerts the parking attendant.

"The benefits of this is the attendant does not have to go around recording number plates. They can also police the disabled spaces and the mother and child spaces more efficiently and make sure they are being used properly."

The new technology is expected to go live at the store, near the Weavers Wharf shopping complex, on Monday.

The store trialled an extra hour of free parking in December 2006 after shoppers said two hours was not long enough when doing a big shop and using facilities, like the cafe.

But after receiving complaints from customers unable to find spaces bosses reverted back to the original two hours free parking.

By Heather Large