FOOTBALL fans subjected an Ipswich mum to 90 minutes of hell on Sunday – and she wasn't even at the game.A build-up of football traffic meant Heidi Ottaway spent an astonishing hour and a half to get from Tesco car park to Copdock Roundabout.
FOOTBALL fans subjected an Ipswich mum to 90 minutes of hell on Sunday – and she wasn't even at the game.
A build-up of football traffic meant Heidi Ottaway spent an astonishing hour and a half to get from Tesco car park to Copdock Roundabout.
Gridlocked traffic in London Road meant it took Heidi nearly an hour just to get off the slip road – and all that with a one-year-old child in the back.
Heidi, of Fairfield Road, Ipswich, said: "It was awful, an absolute nightmare.
"If our three-year-old had been in the back it would have been even more of a nightmare.
"As it was, it was just the one-year-old, but he was getting irritable because he was overdue for a feed.
"But I managed to keep him happy with a packet of chocolate buttons which I walked to Tesco garage to buy.
"People were getting very irate, one woman got out of her car to shout at a man who'd blocked the road.
"I don't think there were any fisticuffs, though – at least none that I saw."
Heidi was by no means the only less than happy shopper. There were many stuck in the very same queue and others who couldn't even get into the car park.
She said: "Tesco's staff took about three quarters of an hour before they stopped people coming into the car park.
"I phoned police headquarters in Martlesham and they said there were officers monitoring the situation, but when I got to the roundabout there was just one officer watching the world go by."
According to the AA's internet route planner, Heidi could have got to the King's Lynn Tesco for her shopping in the same amount of time.
She could have also popped to the shops in Norfolk, Cambridge, Colchester, Basildon or Romford.
With a bit of luck on the roads – and perhaps a blind eye to the speed limit – Peterborough and Luton could also have been on the cards.
And if she fancied a complete change of scenery, there is a fine Tesco in Gillingham, Kent – just 1hr 36mins away, according to the AA.
Weblink
www.theaa.com
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