Rowley Regis man in battle of the bulge with Asda (From Halesowen News)

Rowley Regis man in battle of the bulge with Asda

8:30am Wednesday 3rd October 2012 in News

Baden Ashman at the Asda car park exit. (To buy:411209MH)

 A BATTLING pensioner is refusing to accept that supermarket giant Asda has no responsibility for an accident his wife had at the exit of the store’s multi-storey car park in Halesowen.

Liseby Ashman, aged 63, from Rowley Regis, failed to negotiate the tight bend in her seven-seater 4x4 Mitsubishi Pajero last December, causing £500 damage as the rear wing scrapped along the metal barrier.

Husband Baden Ashman has refused to have the repairs carried out, claiming that the bend, created by a half moon landscaped area designed as a traffic calming measure, was an accident waiting to happen.

“As she drove down the carousel she mispositioned the car slightly, got stuck and couldn’t reverse because there were cars behind her, so was forced to go forward and scrape the wing,” said the 66-year-old.

Mr Ashman, of Terrace Street, believes any large vehicle with a tight turning circle would have difficulty negotiating the bend and he is calling for the landscaping “bulge” to be removed and replaced by a barrier to stop traffic driving too quickly from the car park into the road.

He has also written to Asda twice urging the company to at least contribute to the repair bill, but his requests have fallen on deaf ears.

An Asda spokesman said: “We sympathise with the cost of repairs but do not accept responsibility.

“The traffic calming was a response to customers, it was they who wanted it in the first place.”

Mr Ashman has now contacted the British Parking Association and is calling for a national standard for the design of car park entrances and exits.