A SEETHING shopper was stunned to be slapped with a £90 fine after leaving his car for less than 15 minutes in the car park at Lidl in Greenock.

Tony Reid from Gourock was issued with a ticket claiming his vehicle had been there for four hours - but he had made two separate short visits to the supermarket to pick up groceries on January 15.

The 54-year-old believes that car park cameras failed to record him leaving after his first visit at 9am and that the computerised system that issues the parking penalties wrongly recorded his car as still being parked at the store up until his second visit at 1.30pm.

After realising the mistake, Mr Reid tried to contact Lidl and their car park operator, ParkingEye, but could not even get through to someone to lodge a complaint.

He decided to go into the store and ask a manager for help with his issue but said they 'wanted nothing to do' with the problem.

Mr Reid, a long-time Lidl customer, says he is so angry at the way he has been treated that he will never shop at the supermarket again.

He said: "Staff were really dismissive of me in store.

"I didn't expect them to set everything right, but the manager I spoke to just wasn't interested in helping me.

"The car park operator, ParkingEye, has thousands of bad reviews online so I don't understand why Lidl use them.

"I'm furious that a big company like Lidl has been so difficult.

"I spend about £300 a month in their shop and they've just wiped me off like I'm nothing.

"I have the receipts for both of my visits and they don't seem to care.

"I'll never shop at Lidl again."

A spokesperson for Lidl GB said Mr Reid's situation would have to be addressed by ParkingEye.

They said: “Our car park management systems are in place to help ensure availability of parking spaces for our customers, and it’s therefore disappointing when we learn that a genuine customer has received a parking charge notice.

"In the extremely unfortunate event that a customer believes they have wrongfully received a parking charge, we would encourage them to get in touch with ParkingEye directly via the appeals process and explain their situation.

"Charges can be investigated and if necessary, cancelled as swiftly as possible."