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Tesco in Heath Street |
Tesco’s parking contempt
Retail giant runs up hundreds of pounds a week in fines
SUPERMARKET giants Tesco have been accused by Camden Council of showing contempt for parking rules after it emerged that its delivery trucks get ticketed at least once a day.
The multinational firm is said to have factored in the possibility of parking penalties to its daily delivery operations in Hampstead, Belsize Park and Kentish Town and swiftly pays any fines that it incurs.
The policy – nicknamed locally as ‘The Park Where You Like System’ – has meant Camden’s fines have become largely toothless and parking chiefs are stumped over how to deal with Tesco and the growing mailbag of complaints at the Town Hall centring on the noise, disruption and traffic congestion caused by its delivery lorries.
Tesco, the country’s largest supermarket chain, said last night (Wednesday) that it did its best to stick to the rules but that late deliveries sometimes led to parking fines.
A spokesman said: “We just have to accept that.”
While Camden Council is trying to maintain a reconciliatory stance publicly and has organised a series of meetings with the supermarket to try and reach a compromise, correspondence leaked to the New Journal suggest that department chiefs are beginning to run on a short fuse.
One letter written by a senior parking manager at Camden last week and since seen by reporters said: “The only practicable option available to us to counteract Tesco’s parking habits is the application of penalty charges to its vehicles if they contravene regulations. Our experience is that Tesco will pay the penalty charge, but at this point in time, we have no other more potent deterrent to apply to Tesco’s vehicles, or for that matter, the vehicles of any other organisation flagrantly transgressing local parking regulations with such regularity.”
The leaked letter confirmed that the supermarket roughly collects one parking fine at its Heath Street shop in Hampstead every day and a similar pattern is replicated at ‘Metro’ satellite stores in Swain’s Lane, Highgate, England’s Lane, Belsize Park and Kentish Town Road, Kentish Town.
Every fine is £50 – only doubling to £100 if it isn’t paid within two weeks – and the council is understood to be worried that the figure represents only a drop in Tesco’s financial resources. For example, even if Tesco incurred tickets at all four hotspot stores it would only be shelling out £200 a day, or £1,400 a week, in return for getting prime access for its deliveries.
Parking officials no longer use clamping and so tickets are the only weapon open to them.
Hampstead ward councillor Chris Knight, who has fielded a barrage of complaints about the Heath Street branch, said that Camden’s hands were tied.
He said: “They seem to have found a loophole. Until Tesco stop paying the penalties, Camden can’t take any more action against them. What makes it worse is that Camden has tried to be fair and reach a compromise. It has had meetings with Tesco but it still goes on. These deliveries cause noise and disruption on Heath Street. They are a multinational and they can afford the fines they are getting.”
Yesterday (Wednesday), residents close to the Heath Street store after learning how Tesco were paying off their fines so regularly and with apparent comfort.
Jane McMurdo, who lives nearby, said: “I can’t park where I like because I can’t afford a parking ticket. There is no competition, that’s the main problem. We can’t go anywhere else. They have got us by the short and curlies.”
Domenic Aloe, a hair stylist at Mad Lillies salon, said: “To be fair, Tesco should have a bigger loading bay but the council can’t be more lenient on them than anyone else. There is no real solution, the streets of Hampstead can’t that take the traffic. They are here with heir trucks for one to one and half hours but you can’t blame them, they have got a right to run their business.”
A Town Hall press official said: “We have met with Tesco to encourage them to deal with the issues raised by residents in relation to the way their lorries park and they have set up ‘good neighbour’ groups to work with us and residents on trying to sort out any problems. However it is an ongoing issue and we will arrange another meeting with Tesco at a senior level to discuss this further and see if there are any further solutions to encourage a change in behaviour.”
A Tesco spokesman said: “We do try our utmost to abide with parking restrictions for each store. Unfortunately given the traffic, deliveries are sometimes late and penalties are incurred and we just have to accept that.” |
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