A pensioner said she was ‘shocked’ after being charged for five hours of parking when she only went into a supermarket for half an hour.

Sandra Ekelund, 74, who lives in Bicester, told this newspaper she received a letter from Horizon Parking, the company who run the Tesco car park at Lakeview Drive in Bicester, charging her for five hours of parking.

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She said: “I was quite upset, and shocked.

I went to Aylesbury that day, spent the morning there, had breakfast and did some shopping with my son and his wife.

“I came back to Bicester and parked at the Tesco at around 1.30pm and did some shopping for half an hour.

“I then received a parking charge saying I had been parked at Tesco from 9am until 2pm.

“I hadn’t been there for five hours, nobody spends five hours in that Tesco.”

Ms Ekelund said she went on Horizon’s website to appeal the charge, telling the company she had proof she was in Aylesbury that day.

She had collected receipts from shops in Aylesbury and uses a tracking app on her phone which she said shows she was nowhere near Tesco in Bicester at the times she has been charged for.

Ms Ekelund claims the company are yet to get back to her.

Horizon Parking has been approached for comment.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1