A JOBLESS mother-of-four has been hit with a £50 parking fine from Tesco - even though she shopped there.

Eileen Bland, of Waterwheel Rise, Lockwood, visited the store off Viaduct Street, Huddersfield, to do her weekly shop.

She went to the cash machines in the car park, but both were out of order.

So Eileen, 51, and her partner, Iqbal Butt, had to walk the short distance to the Post Office cash machine in Northumberland Street.

After they had got some money the pair returned to Tesco and spent £45 on food.

But when they got back to the car there was a fixed-penalty notice on the windscreen.

"I could not believe it when I got back to the car after about 45 minutes shopping and I had a fine," she said.

"I can ill afford to be paying this when I am not working and I have children to feed.

"On the ticket it said I had not shopped at Tesco and that is why I had to pay.

"I stormed in to the store to tell them they had made a mistake. I even had my receipt to prove it, but they said I would have to pay," said Eileen.

"I go to Tesco twice a week to shop for the family and I don't expect to be treated like this."

Tesco employ a London-based company, Euro Car Park, to police the spaces outside their stores.

If people park for more than two hours without paying, or do not shop at the store, they can expect a £50 fixed fine - but Eileen did neither.

"I have already got the postal order and I am going to have to pay the fine," she said.

"But I will never shop at Tesco again. I will go somewhere else.

"The warden must have been watching us from the moment we came in the car park.

"I would not have minded if they had accepted my proof that I had shopped there and stopped the fine. But they just said: `We are clamping down on it'.

"I think they are taking it a bit far."

A Tesco spokesman said they would review Eileen's case.

He added: "We have a penalty in place to try and combat the abuse of the car park that has been occurring.

"We recognise that Ms Bland's ticket was unfairly issued.

"We invite her to visit the customer services manager in store, so we can arrange a refund and apologise in person."