Due to the “disgusting” state of Sainsbury’s underground parking, customers are refraining from visiting the shop in Central Milton Keynes.
The parking lot is run by Euro Car Parks, and customers can park there for free during the day for three hours.
However, shoppers claim that homeless people, drug users, and beggars use it at night as a place to sleep and a toilet.
“I went there last week and I stepped over human faeces and pools of urine. The place stank so much, it made me feel sick,” said one visitor.
Another said: “It’s in a disgusting state. I was walking from my car with my children, about to go into Sainsbury’s, when we passed a drug user sitting on the floor shooting up with a needle”.
Passers-by have noticed homeless people sleeping in the car park at night as it gives some shelter from the cold.
The Milton Keynes City Council declared last week that all sleeping bags and supplies for the homeless had been removed from Station Square.
According to officials, all homeless people in the city have now been helped or relocated because they were not truly homeless.
Last year, the council opened a shelter in the city centre to provide overnight lodging and support services to up to 18 people.
A specialist outreach team motivates people on the streets to accept this warm space. So far, more than 300 offers of help have been accepted.
However some homeless drug or alcohol users have rejected help or do not qualify for it because they are unwilling or unable to quit their habit.
A bystander remarked: “Sainsbury’s car park seems to be the new place to be for these people, It’s sad because they still need help”.
Customers have voiced their complaints on social media, and some have made phone calls to Sainsbury’s and Euro Car Parks to demand a cleanup.
