DISABLED shoppers must share their parking spaces with mothers and children, a superstore has told customers.

The Tesco superstore at Abingdon provides 36 bays for customers who display a disabled badge and 21 spaces for parents with young children.

But a row has erupted after the supermarket announced disabled users had to share their spaces with families.

Tesco spokesman Taryna Surtees said: "We took a pragmatic view and spaces at the store are quite often left empty, and so we have allowed this."

John Weston, who suffers from cervical spondylosis and has used a wheelchair for the past 20 years, has shopped at the Marcham Road store twice a week since it opened more than two decades ago, but is disgusted that able-bodied people can now park in the disabled bays.

Mr Weston, a 65-year-old grandfather, said: "It is just not fair on us. It is not just me, but the other disabled people. Why do we get punished? We did not ask to be disabled. Mothers ask to become pregnant and have a baby. We did not ask to be disabled, so why do we keep being punished for it?"

Mr Weston said that on several occasions he had not been able to shop at Tesco as there was nowhere to park.

Mr Weston, of Latton Close, Southmoor, claimed he often saw mothers with babies parking in the disabled bays and when he challenged one woman about it, she told him that the store allowed it.

Ian Scott, customer service manager, wrote to Mr Weston from Tesco's customer service centre at Dundee: "I can confirm that as a company we have always kept our disabled and mother and toddler spaces separate. However, our store managers can make their own decisions as a store policy based on the needs of their local customers.

"Unfortunately, if a store manager takes the decision to allow mothers and toddlers to share disabled spaces, we are unable to override their local decision."

Nigel Carter, chairman of an Abingdon group for people with disabilities, Phab, urged Tesco to closely monitor the situation.

He said: "I can understand disabled people being upset if they have their own transport but cannot get into Tesco because there are not enough bays.

"If able-bodied people are using them, then that shouldn't be."

Ms Surtees said: "As with all our policies at this store, we regularly review them, so if it is unsustainable or if the need to keep these bays free becomes more and more evident, then we'll simply stop."