Football fans clog up car park

I was unfortunate to have to go to Meole Brace Retail Park in Shrewsbury on Saturday afternoon - never again. On arrival at Halfords, the entire car park was full, yet there were only two people in the store.

Car parking in other areas of the retail park was also completely full. Was this a rush on Christmas shopping? No, it was football fans parking there.

Trying to get out of the retail park after doing my shopping took nearly three-quarters of an hour, and the majority of cars were football fans (the hats and scarves gave them away).

Not only does it cost tax payers £1,100 each time Oteley Road is closed, but now Meole Brace retail park is a no-go area on match days.

This does not seem a satisfactory solution - if there were marshals on the car parks to prevent football fans parking there, they clearly weren't effective.

I shall not be returning to Meole Brace Retail Park on a Saturday - it's quicker to drive to Telford and back than try to get out of Meole Brace.

Do the council and STFC think this satisfactory? Surely the council would rather people shop in Shrewsbury than travel to a "competitor town" such as Telford?

I wonder how the shops feel if customers are not even able to get to them on what should be one of their busiest days of the week?

I think that Shrewsbury having a football team is a good thing, but it shouldn't be at the detriment of non-football following council taxpayers (which I suspect the majority of council taxpayers are). The situation is much worse than when the football ground was in town centre.

Matt Critchley, Shrewsbury