A PENSIONER has called on Sainsbury’s to ditch its car parking regulations or he fears he will have to cancel his monthly trips to London.

Mauritius-born Roger Maya, 79, who lives with wife Danielle in North Swindon, travels by bus to London once or twice a month with around 10 other pensioners.

The bus stop is located outside Sainsbury’s in Stratton and Roger parks his car in the supermarket’s car park when he arrives at around 6.20am.

Roger, who has lived in Swindon for the past 18 years, said: “It’s lovely, we go for the whole day and thoroughly enjoy it. It makes for a really nice day out.

“The trips are definitely the highlight of the month, we always look forward to them.”

When he returns from London, at around 10pm, he is able to jump into his car and head off home.

But now Sainsbury’s has brought in a three hour parking limit with a £60 fine for anyone who overstays their welcome, which means Roger will either have to make alternative arrangements or stop going to London altogether.

Roger said: “The bus stop is so convenient because we are able to leave our car in the car park.

“We are all OAPs and unfortunately there’s nowhere else to park that’s safe. I don’t want to be roaming around when it’s dark or when it’s pouring with rain. It’s sad because I don’t know what I am going to do.

“We live in North Swindon so we would have to get a taxi, which is an added expense. It will curtail our trips to London because it will be adding more money on top of everything else.

“Waiting for a taxi in the dark when you are old is not very pleasant.”

Roger says he understands the reasons but he is appealing to bosses to think again.

“ I feel it’s penalising the majority because of the minority,” he says.

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said: “We’ve not put the parking restriction in place to penalise anybody, but to ensure customers can find a space when they come to shop with us.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause Mr Maya and our store manager would be happy to discuss this with him.”