A group of angry shoppers were locked out of Shrewsbury’s multi-storey car park in the freezing cold after making the most of the town’s heavily publicised late-night Christmas shopping.
The situation, which has been branded as ‘absolutely ridiculous’ by one of the people involved, occurred because even though shops in Shrewsbury are open until 9pm on Wednesdays, the Raven Meadows car park closes at 8.45pm.
Elizabeth Bowers, along with her three children, from Bayston Hill, was just one of around 20 adults and children who had to wait in the pitch black and sub-zero conditions last Wednesday after returning to the borough council car park too late.
The group called the emergency out-of-hours number and were told a private contractor would be sent over to let them out – but they would be charged a £20 release fee per car.
Mrs Bowers, 38, said that she and her children, Josh, 4, Chloe, 11 and Lauren, 14, all had to wait for around 30 minutes to be let out. She said: “We realised at about 8.45pm we should get back to the car, but when we tried to get through the Darwin Centre that had already been locked so we had to walk around the long way.
“By the time we had got round it was about 8.55pm and the car park was all locked and there was nobody around. Five or six other families were there too and they were very unhappy about the situation.
“We were told we would have to pay a £20 release fee, but when the man turned up, he said that would be waived as they had had so many complaints about it from the week before.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous if the shops are open until 9pm that the car park would close early.”
Doug Hosking, SABC parking and transport officer, said: “When we consulted the Darwin Centre we were told that late night shopping would be only until 8pm. There are signs telling people very clearly what time the car park closes. I have told all my operational staff to inform people over the PA system an hour and a half before it closes what time it will shut.
“I have also asked staff to monitor how many cars are left in the car park and to maybe stay open another 15 minutes if necessary.”
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