STAFF at the Tesco supermarket in Yate Shopping Centre are being "repeatedly fined" despite parking in bays designated for employees.

That’s the claim of one woman, whose 17-year-old son works there and has received two fines for parking in the “clearly marked” green-coloured employee zone at the Yate Shopping Centre car park.

She said the teenager has parked in the employee section of the car park just six times since starting his job - but has already received fines totalling £80.

“Why are there green marked bays for employees if you can’t park there?” she said.

“I’ve heard that many of my son’s work colleagues have received similar fines, so something clearly needs to be done.

“People shouldn’t be penalised for going to work.”

She added: “I paid the fine for my son the first time, but I refuse to pay the second one and will be fighting it.”

Current rules at the Yate Shopping Centre car park, which is regulated by external company Highview Parking, mean that customers are allowed to park for a maximum of four hours.

A camera placed near the entrance to the carpark monitors vehicles entering and leaving, and records the amount of time that they have spent on the carpark.

Katie believes that the parking company are using the customer rules as a reason to fine her son.

She said: “They say that the reason they will not allow my son off the parking charge is that he parked in the main carpark.

“However he has never parked in the main carpark for work unless in the green employee bays. They have no proof of where he parked, just a picture of him coming and going.”

She added: “Highview Parking should not be able to threaten a 17-year-old with fines and debt recovery companies when he is parking where he should and doesn’t earn the amount fined in his entire week’s wages.”

There are currently over 2,500 staff working at Yate Shopping Centre but only 1,400 car parking spaces available – 200 of which have been allocated for employees.

This means that staff parking is only permitted for employees who have been issued a permit, according Manager of Yate Shopping Centre, Andy Lowrey.

He told the Gazette: “All businesses are allocated a set number of permits and it is the store manager’s responsibility to allocate the permits to their teams.

"In Tesco’s case they have been allocated 100 permits – however they have over 500 staff so not all staff can park in the shopping centre’s car parks.

“Permits are usually allocated to staff that live outside the area and those staff living in the area are encouraged to use public transport, cycle or walk.

“We have contacted the town council and local MP to suggest there is a need for a park and ride scheme on the edge of town – thus taking traffic out of the town centre and providing a facility for long term parking.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “The car park serving our Yate Extra store is operated by Yate Shopping Centre and all colleagues are made aware of the parking restrictions in place when they take up roles at the store.

“We have a limited number of parking permits and we try to operate these as fairly as possible, and in a way that gives preference to those colleagues working early or late shifts.”

Highview Parking declined to comment.