A PONTYPOOL man has blasted the 'Big Brother' attitude of a supermarket giant.

Adrian Whitcombe, of Campbell Street, Wainfelin, was shocked and annoyed to receive a letter from Tesco, warning that he will be fined £70 if his car is left in their car park over the two-hour time limit.

The letter - which arrived at his home, meaning Tesco must have got his details from the DVLA - said his vehicle had been left at the store for seven hours, from around 1pm to 8pm, on Saturday, February 11.

But, in fact, Mr Whitcombe was parked at the store for an hour at most, and has proof to support his claim.

"My wife, children and I parked in Tesco's car park at 1.11pm.

"I used the cashpoint and bought a paper in the store, and less than 15 minutes later we left to visit Cardiff," he said.

The Whitcombe's arrived at Cardiff's Mermaid Quay at 2.16pm, and he has a car park voucher to prove it.

The family visited Techniquest and had a meal in the capital before heading home.

"We arrived back in Tesco's, in Pontypool, at about 7.30pm to buy some things for the kid's sandwich boxes for school.

"We must have been there for about 30 minutes at the most and then left at 7.56pm.

"It really annoyed me to receive the letter, as we have been good customers and always abided by the car parking rules since they came into force.

"This number plate recognition system is obviously flawed, unlike the car park attendant who was working there before the New Year."

Tesco said the two-hour limit was introduced in response to customer feedback, and CCTV cameras are used to monitor the time limit.

Mr Whitcombe says the store has now lost a valued customer, because he is not going to risk the chance of receiving a fine by visiting the car park again.

"The policy seems to me to be "get in, do your shopping and get out," he said.

"It doesn't make you feel like a 'valued customer'," he said.

A Tesco spokesman said: "We are rolling out this new system to manage car park abuse, and we believe that this is the best way of managing it. "The system works by photographing number plates as they enter and leave the store.

"If they stay longer than the allotted time, then a letter will be sent to their homes.

"We are not intending to fine everybody. It's meant to act as a deterrent." The spokesman confirmed Tesco funded the operation to monitor their car park's CCTV.

And said: "It would be wrong to suggest that Tesco get access to people's details via the DVLA database."

However, the DVLA have created a system whereby companies which monitor car parks can get information.

"The DVLA decide what information is given to those companies," added the spokesman.