A man has issued a warning to fellow drivers after being fined for parking for less than half an hour at a Tesco in Bracknell.

The fine, called a penalty charge notice (PCN), was issued after the man undertook chores having parked at the Tesco Bracknell North Superstore in County Lane, Warfield.

Richard Bowles, from Warfield, said: “So I popped into Tesco on Sunday to dispose of my empty bottles and glass in their recycling station, I filled the car and put it through the car wash, then one week later boom, I get a £70 fine for over staying in their car park.

“I was only there for 29 minutes.”

He slammed the fine as ‘extortionate’.

The fine was issued by Tesco parking enforcement contractors Horizon.

READ MORE: Contractors fined for road disruptions near Bracknell Tesco

A spokesperson for Tesco explained that parking is limited to 15 minutes outside of store operating hours.

The fine was incurred at 8.29am on Sunday, March 12. The store’s Sunday opening hours are 10am to 4pm, which is why Mr Bowles was caught out by the rules.

The Tesco spokesperson said:  “There is a 15-minute parking limit in place outside of opening hours at our Bracknell North store to help prevent antisocial behaviour.

“However, we appreciate that this was a genuine mistake on the part of the customer and are happy to waive the ticket in this case.”

The PCN has since been cancelled.

Limits to parking outside of store operating hours has been imposed to deter anti-social behaviour in car parks such as unauthorised car meets.

Car meets have long been an issues that has plagued areas of Bracknell, as well as similar sites in Wokingham.

READ MORE: Bracknell police urged to crack down on 'anti social' car meets

In May last year, a neighbour complained that 100 drivers had descended on the Sainsbury’s car park in Birch Hill for a car meet.

The incident led to James Sunderland, the Conservative MP for Bracknell, to call on Sainsbury’s to close or restrict its car park use to deter anti-social meets.

At the time, a Thames Valley Police spokesperson said that officers have worked with businesses and Bracknell Forest Council to tackle the issue, and urged neighbours impacted to report incidents to the police.

Police have the power to seize a vehicle that is repeatedly used in an anti-social manner using a Section 59 warning under the Police Reform Act 2002.

The issue of anti-social car meets is not new, as it was brought up by councillor Gill Birch (Conservative, Hanworth) at a council meeting in September 2021, where she urged police to crack down on car meets and ‘boy racing’ in Bracknell.