An elderly couple have fumed at an ‘absolutely crazy’ parking fine received after they were stuck in gridlocked traffic.

David Mather, 70, and his wife Helen, 69, had been enjoying a painless Sunday food shop at Tesco Extra in North Shields on September 18.

But when they left the supermarket, to their horror they discovered the entire car park was at a standstill with drivers trying to leave.

To make matters worse, David said the only combined entrance and exit was being controlled by traffic lights, causing drivers to become stuck.

Care worker Helen was forced to walk the one-and-a-half mile journey back home because she knew the traffic would not clear anytime soon.

In the end, she beat her husband home, as it took him a whole two hours just to leave the supermarket.

But the couple’s spell of bad luck was far from over, with a £70 parking charge arriving through their letterbox.

It emerged that, while trapped in gridlocked traffic, they had exceeded the maximum stay for Horizon Parking, who operates the car park for Tesco.

Drivers in the car park are allowed to park for free for the first three hours before they are hit with a £70 parking fine.

David, a retired electrical engineer described how he was ‘bouncing off the wall’ when he saw the fine.

‘I thought how dare they’ he fumed.

‘I couldn’t actually get out of there and they are trying to fine me for staying too long. The irony – you couldn’t make it up as fiction. I think it’s absolutely crazy.

‘It’s really a punishment for staying in a parking space when I wasn’t really in a parking space. Helen feels incensed as well, it’s just unbelievable.. I was not a happy bunny when I opened that letter.’

The following day after receiving the parking fine, David went to see the manager of the Tesco store and was told there was nothing they could do and he would have to appeal the decision.

He also tried to contact the complaints department and even Tesco Headquarters but they were all unable to help.

David added: ‘I have not had a problem with Tesco before and the problem is not necessarily with the whole of Tesco, it’s with their attitude towards this. I think we will be less likely now to shop at Tesco.’

Tesco has now cancelled the parking charge and said in a statement: ‘We are sorry to hear about this and have now cancelled this customer’s PCN.’

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