Drivers stuck in Stanway Sainsbury's car park 'for hours'

The car park at the firm's Stanway store, in Western Approach at Tollgate, has been bumper to bumper with cars on Wednesday.

One Twitter user described it as "absolute chaos".

He said: "Cars can’t get out and members of the public are risking themselves trying to direct traffic.

"You need to get out there Sainsbury's and take some immediate action.

"Some people have been stuck hours."

#sainsburys #stanway is absolute chaos in the car park, cars can’t get out and members of the public are risking themselves trying to direct traffic. You need to get out there #sainsburys and take some immediate action. Some people have been stuck hours!!

— Christopher Wetton (@MuckleChris) September 1, 2021

Sainsbury's central Twitter account responded to the gentleman on Twitter saying they would pass the information on to the store management as soon as possible.

Hey Christopher. I'm so sorry about the experience you're having in our Stanway store car park! Please be assured I've picked this up with our store management to be looked in to ASAP. Take care. Natasha

— Sainsbury's (@sainsburys) September 1, 2021

The issue is believed to have some relationship to the ongoing roadworks scheme in the area.

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A broken down vehicle is understood to have contributed to the delays further.

Resident Tanya Smeed said it took her 45 minutes to get out of the car park.

She said there needed to be more intervention in the area.

Tanya said: "One member of public got out and tried to direct traffic and I heard she was getting abuse from another driver.

"There needs to be some intervention.

"There was a broken down vehicle which didn’t help this evening.

"However, this area is often queuing.

"The road closure is becoming problematic - appreciate work needs to happen but in all this gridlock not a workman in site.

"I for sure will avoid this area after today."

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "There are ongoing roadworks near our Stanway store and yesterday a broken down car caused further disruption. This affected customers leaving our store carpark and we‘re sorry for the inconvenience this caused."