BOSSES at a Kidderminster supermarket have relaxed strict parking restrictions following complaints from customers.

Motorists parking at the Castle Road store will see free parking increased from 30 minutes to an hour and maximum stay go up from two hours to three.

Last September, Tesco scrapped free parking provision and introduced a new scheme that meant visitors would have to spend £5 in store if they used the car park for more than 30 minutes up to a maximum two hour stay.

Managers at the superstore said they were acting following complaints about the misuse of free spaces by non-customers hogging spaces for hours.

But the change prompted fierce criticism with Wyre Forest Labour group leader Nigel Knowles branding the company “mean-spirited” and accusing them of going against an original agreement when the store was originally built.

But, following customer feedback, changes have been brought in this week to give people more time to do their shopping.

Store manager Andrew Faull posted on social media: “As you may be aware in October we introduced a new car park system to free up spaces for our customers.

“We have spent the last four months listening to all the feedback and while the majority of it is positive we know customers don't like the inconvenience of validating a ticket.

“So off the back of customer feedback we will make the following changes to our car park as from Feb 22

“Increasing the time you have to validate a ticket from 30 minutes to one hour. This means that if you’re in the car park for under an hour you don't need to do anything

“And increasing the maximum stay time from two hours to three hours.

“We know a lot of our customers need more time to complete a big shop and also like to use Kidderminster Town centre. We hope that this will enable shoppers to do this.”