'Trapped' shoppers 'wait hours' to leave Banbury Tesco car park

Disgruntled visitors to the supermarket waited in queues and left their cars in spaces sideways out of frustration.

One shopper, Sarah Thomas, said they had phoned Tesco who told them 'a power company has changed the traffic lights' having been 'trapped' since 2pm.

By 3.30pm, she had escaped but found no roadworks which could be to blame.

Others abandoned their cars to pick their children up from school and many complained to Tesco on social media.

The same issue was reported yesterday (Wednesday) after similar problems in August and is usually caused by congestion elsewhere which blocks up the main roads around the supermarket.

Cllr Mark Cherry has emailed Hardwick county councillor Tony Ilott to raise the issue with highway officers to find a solution, with suggestions for a second exit.

"I think this affects all councillors to be fair and is something all north oxfordshire county councillors can work together on," he said.

A Tesco spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to customers who have experienced long delays in accessing or exiting our Banbury Extra store.

"Ongoing road works taking place in the local area are affecting traffic travelling to and from our store.

"We will be making further contact with the local authority regarding access to the site to see what can be done to minimise any further disruption to our customers.”