Security sign is Lidl consolation as Jaguar vandal escapes cameras

It was some small consolation for Kevin Fitzsimons when he returned to his recently bought Jaguar XK on the Lidl car park in Finchfield Hill, Wolverhampton to find a foot-long scratch down the driver's side door.

He hoped police would be able to examine the camera footage in an effort to identify the vandal.

But when the 60-year-old contacted police a few minutes after the incident on April 9, he was told no CCTV cameras were trained on the car park.

"There are four signs in the car park relating to CCTV coverage, two of which specifically state it is monitored by CCTV for the protection of staff and their customers," said Mr Fitzsimons.

So Mr Fitzsimons contacted Lidl. "First I was told the CCTV only covers a small part of the car park, then someone else came on the line and said there is no coverage at all. I was told there was only one camera on the site and that pointed at the store entrance. It's ridiculous. I think Lidl are lying to their customers and denying them a recourse to law should an incident happen which requires legal action."

Mr Fitzsimons, who grew up in Wolverhampton but now lives in Guernsey, added he had been given no apology by the supermarket.

He said he is now saddled with a £600 bill to repair his car. "Obviously at this particular store it is very much a case of 'park at your own risk', regardless of what the signs say."

Clare Norman, spokesperson for Lidl, said: "All of our stores have CCTV cameras in operation for the internal areas, however not all stores operate CCTV cameras in the car parking areas.

"The signs displayed in the car parks are to inform customers that there are CCTV cameras in operation.

"Should we come to reassess the signage on these sites in the future, then all customer feedback will be taken into account."