Billericay shoppers have been left fuming after Waitrose doubled its car parking charges.

An hour's stay is now 80p and up to two hours costs £1.40, with visitors to the High Street supermarket having to spend £5 or over in the store to park for free. A three-hour stay for anyone costs £6.

The rises have shocked shoppers used to paying a 40p tariff for an hour's parking without the restriction that they must spend money in the store to avoid the charges.

Vivien Conway, of Grange Road, Billericay, is disgusted by the rises.

She said: "When Waitrose took over the car park it said it wasn't just for the shop and other people would be allowed to park in it. Now it's all changed."

Mrs Conway noticed new signs put up in Waitrose's car park after visiting the town centre with her 80-year-old mother.

She said: "We wanted to go to the library which is right next to Waitrose so we parked there.

"I thought they were taking the mickey when I saw the new charges. It only costs 40p to park behind Woolworths but that's quite a long walk for an OAP.

"To me £5 is a lot of money to have to spend. Waitrose has taken a council car park, put its own rules in place and cut down on the amount of spaces in the town centre. It's wrong.

"The car park was empty when I went there and now I know why."

A Waitrose spokeswoman said the firm was forced to take drastic action because the car park was being abused.

She said: "The reason we have done this is because the car park was just so overused and congested and there was nowhere for people to park.

"People were queuing around the town centre to try to get in.

"We needed to try to improve the turn-over of traffic. It is, after all, a car park for Waitrose customers and most people do spend well over £5.

"We have an agreement with the council about the amount we can charge and these new charges fall within that agreement."

She added that the car park behind Woolworths had 400 spaces compared to Waitrose's 220.

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