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news
Broken bike racks blocked by plants at Tesco Stalham store, Norwich (image provided)Tesco tells cyclist who complained about broken and blocked bike racks outside shop that “working racks are never full” and “not considered high priority”
Tesco has been accused of doing “very little” to promote cycling and active travel, after one customer who complained about a bike rack that has been broken and blocked by plants for over a year was told by the supermarket giant that it is “not considered high priority” and that the four remaining spaces that are available to use “are never full”.
However, after road.cc raised the issue with Tesco last week, we have now been told that the company has arranged for the cycle rack to be repaired, “to make it as easy as possible for customers to shop with us and to support the customers who cycle”.
At Tesco’s branch in Stalham, Norfolk, according to images sent to road.cc, the limited bike parking facilities located outside the store include one rack which has been broken and cracked for over a year, while another parking spot is blocked by a large plant rack, forcing customers who cycle to the shop to leave their bikes in front of the plants, and possibly unlocked.
The customer who took the photos, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims that the store manager has “refused” to fix the cracked cycle rack, while correspondence with the supermarket giant’s customer services team prompted a similar response, as Tesco noted that the lack of suitable cycling parking facilities was not of immediate concern as a health and safety issue.
In an email discussion with Tesco’s customer service team at the end of June, the cyclist pointed out that he first reported the rack as broken in March 2023, but that it “appears the solution was to break it even further”.
“With 4.6 per cent extra custom and increased profits, I find it odd you can provide the store with a complete brand-new stock of trolleys yet do very little to promote active travel,” the cyclist said.
In response, a Tesco customer service specialist said that they “have spoken to the store manager in regards to the bike rack and he will look into this being repaired, but they are waiting on a response from a maintenance team to get back to them.”
“Shouldn’t the bike rack repair have been looked at in March 2023 when it was first reported and not repaired?” the cyclist replied.
Later that afternoon, the Tesco spokesperson said that they had spoken to the Stalham branch’s manager, who claimed that “there still are four working bike racks available and these are never full” – a response described by the cyclist as “odd considering I had already sent them photos of the rack full”.
“As I have said this has been reported and is not considered high priority as a Health and Safety issue,” the employee added.
However, after road.cc contacted Tesco for comment, the supermarket giant says it has now arranged for the cycle rack to finally be repaired, while apologising to local cyclists who have been inconvenienced by the delay.
A Tesco spokesperson told road.cc: “We always want to make it as easy as possible for customers to shop with us and to support the customers who cycle to our Stalham Superstore, we have arranged for the cycle rack to be repaired. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
As we have reported on multiple occasions, the lack of suitable bike parking facilities at supermarkets has proved a persistent issue across the UK for the growing number of shoppers using bikes.
Earlier this week, we reported on the live blog that a Milton Keynes branch of Sainsbury’s recently refused a request from bike-riding shoppers to install more cycle parking facilities.
The call for more bike parking at the shop on Avebury Boulevard was initially launched six months ago by campaign group Cycling CitizensMK, who had a meeting with Sainsbury’s management before being told that more bike parking was not part of the store’s plans.
“It’s a great disappointment they’ve said no,” Hazel Dean, one of the campaigners, said this week. “All we asked for was support for shoppers who want to be more environmentally friendly and get healthier in the process.”
In April, Aldi apologised and promised to ensure cycle parking racks are free from supermarket stock in future after one customer found themselves unable to lock their bike due to a pile of compost grow bags outside their local Royston store.
Simon Colley took to social media to raise the issue with the bargain supermarket chain, asking them, “Why do you hate cyclists so much?”
The post came just hours after a trip to another branch had seen him unable to use the bicycle parking racks there too, that time due to the area being used to store shopping trollies.
Meanwhile, Lidl recently came in for criticism when the cycle racks at one of its London stores were filled with plants and compost for sale.
And last summer, customers at a newly opened Aldi store in Leamington Spa joked that the cycle racks “are definitely middle aisle bike stands” after discovering that they could be quite easily pulled out of the ground.
Having been left red-faced by the ordeal, Aldi quickly rectified the issue and confirmed the works to fix the stands to the ground had been completed shortly after concerns were raised.
Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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45 comments
Back in the early 2000s TESCO stores started refusing to serve motorcyclists at fuel pumps unless they removed their helmet.
Obviously a policy created by someone who is clueless about motorcycling. Many have neck scarves tucked in, comms connected, wearing glasses...it's a real faff to remove especially when raining. But I get it for holding up a cashiers - but this is very rare
So, we use flip lids.
TESCO still refused to serve bikers with flip lids, even though they can only fill a fraction of fuel compared to a car driver to drive off without paying
We were so pi55ed off MCN ran an article about it and gathered data via poll. We all boycotted TESCO for years. As we were spending about £150/week on food (back then!) on average, and there were at least 5,000 motorcyclists responding to this, that was £150 x 52 x 5000.
We removed about £35million from TESCO business in that year.
To this day I avoid TESCO when I can because of this attitude.
I also avoid Sainsbury's because of their aggressive bag checking and till gate system. My food habits have really changed to avoid the corporate greed and arrogance of these businesses.
Back in the early 2000s TESCO stores started refusing to serve motorcyclists at fuel pumps unless they removed their helmet
That's nothing! Also in the early 2000s, the shop/ post office in Whalley, Lancashire refused to serve me because I was wearing a cycling helmet (just an ordinary one- doesn't obcure anything but my thinning hair cover). I've never been in there since.
They fall over themselves to get people in their stores in other ways. They build massive car parks, have hundreds of trolleys, nowadays they stock masses of non-food items and the whole store 'experience' is designed to get you to buy as much crap as possible.
One problem with us cyclists is - cargo bikes notwithstanding - that we have limited luggage capacity. That means the shops can't extract as much £££ because we can't carry it therefore there's no benefit in doing anything for cyclists. And it's very likely that none of the planners or decision-makers do their shopping by bike.
Supermarkets, like many businesses, know that the vast majority of their customers believe that 'saving the planet' involves little more than putting more items in the kerbside recycling bin instead of the normal bin and perhaps remembering to take a few re-usable shopping bags when they drive to the shop.
Supermarkets, like many businesses, know that the vast majority of their customers believe that 'saving the planet' involves little more than putting more items in the kerbside recycling bin instead of the normal bin and perhaps remembering to take a few re-usable shopping bags when they drive to the shop
Very true, but the point about shopping bags reminds me of how instantaneous was the response to shops having to charge for plastic carrier bags in England- everybody brings their own bags now. I recall that this very sudden and otherwise admirable change resulted in a plastic bag factory in Accrington having to close down. England was very backward on this- Wales and, I think, Scotland were way ahead. There really are many fewer plastic bags blowing around these days- all as a result of a trivial charge.
Shopping bags demonstrate how effective a small disincentive can be in shaping people's behaviour. I think it'd be great to move to per mile charging for VED and possibly include electric vehicles too, but at a lower rate. Currently, people think that small journeys are already "paid" for as they'll still be paying the same insurance and tax for the year whether they use their car a lot or a little. Once people realise that they'll rack up a small charge by driving half a mile to the shops, they might choose to walk instead when the weather's nice.
I agree completely. I'd like to see the cost of journeys increase and the revenue ploughed into better public transport.
The success of the carrier bag charge should be cited in the push for a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans, which has already been shown to work very well in other countries and is long overdue.
I would also like to see a levy on drive-thru purchases, since their customers a large proportion of roadside litter as well as encouraging people to make unnecessary journeys (and that's before we discuss the impact of drive-thru/takeway food on health).
None of these things will really address our impact on the natural environment or climate change but they are relatively easy to implement and would be part of a general shift in behaviour.
I remember when fizzy drinks came in glass bottles with something like 5p being paid extra as a deposit that you get back when returning the empty bottle. It was a great scheme for kids to go around asking lazy adults for their empty bottles and then getting a bit of extra pocket money.
All true. BUT Looking more broadly though it's a case of "you get what you design for" and following trends. Where there are cars the "mall"/ out of town supermarkets can get established and self-catalyse, including decline of local shops, "have to drive", "can't get those locally", the desire and "need" for a "big shop" etc.
Certainly happened in the UK:
https://news.cbre.co.uk/uk-shoppers-spend-more-but-make-less-trips/
It's then hard to "go back" and things like "cost of living"* may continue to drive this.
However there are other models (even ignoring the massive growth in delivery) - some currently in use in " advanced counties":
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk
Plus with a supermarket 2 miles away I find shopping with a normal bike "works for me". Yes, I do go more than once a week (but not daily). And I can use a direct, motor-traffic free path (until Edinburgh Council pinches it for trams anyway). In fact that part makes a big difference!
This doesn't suggest an easy path from "here to there" of course. There may not be a quick fix.
* Not belittling people's financial struggles but no-one seems to discuss how much it *should* cost ... just it's "too much". Presumably because recent changes have meant many things cost relatively more, but AFAIKS we generally continue in the direction of more disposable income. Albeit as a nation we've taken on ever more debt.
It will be greenwash in their CSR/ESG reporting. They say they are helping people make greener choices but only if it means their profit margins are even greater.
There is no "crack" - it's designed like that. It is a piece of galvanised pipe bent into an oval, with the two ends just left facing each other. The near one in the photo looks like one end has been stepped on so it is bent out of alignment, which tells you how thin the metal must be.
To he honest, the person complaining has exhausted their efforts tilting at the wrong target. The problem with these racks is not the supposed crack. It is that they are 100% shit, useless. There is no way to securely lock your parked bike, and you risk getting your wheel bent.
You're going to be perceived as nothing but a nuisance if, having bent their ear to fix the unfixable you later go on to point out that they now need ripping out and replacing with Sheffield stands (why is this so difficult for architects to understand in the first place - Sheffield stands).
Agreed. I'd never use those racks anyway for the reasons you mentioned.
I don't think that's what they're referring to. In the picture shown, there's a loop entirely missing (to the left of the bent one) - there should be a pair to go either side of the wheel, rather than just one on its own. It looks like where that was welded to the bottom bar, a crack developed in the bottom bar, and it's since been ripped off entirely.
Nah - that bit must have fallen of since I first looked at the picture!
Indeed, now that you mention it I do feel foolish for not having noticed already. But even so.
I'm not sure that it's the fault of architects. They'll draw the pretty pictures and the likes. It's when the civil engineers step in that the curve balls get thrown. Also quantity surveyors have an influence.
I meant in the general sense of those responsible for the design that gets built.
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