revtothelimit - motorbike forum

As someone who has never wanted, or had a car, I do everything on one of my bikes. For instance, food shopping is done on the scooter, as under seat storage, plus the top box, allows me to purchase a fair amount of stuff, plus that good old biker's friend, the bungee strap, is utilised for the odd bulky item. In my shopping travels, I have noted that Tesco Extra, are the only supermarkets that provide a motorcycle bay, and good sized ones at that. No other supermarket, AFAIK, provides a motorcycle bay. We have a brand new Lidl that opened recently in Horley, which has a huge parking area, but no m/c bay. Why I wonder, is Tesco the only supermarket that has knowledge of the existance of m/c. Obviously, in the other supermarkets, I just use a normal parking bay, but it seems such a waste of space having a bike in a normal parking bay. Anyone seen a m/c bay in any other supermarket other than Tesco Extra?

If I'm on the bike I never look for a specific bay, just find a nice bit of pavement close to the door and out of the way of pedestrians, job jobbed, it also cuts down on the potential for a car to pull in and knock the bloody thing over thinking it's an empty space.

Does Tesco Extra do any deliveries by bike??

I've seen them in a few places, sometimes they're off in a far corner somewhere.

I've no idea if there's any legal stipulation that says a car park on private land has to accommodate all vehicle types.

Rockburner wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 4:52 pm I've seen them in a few places, sometimes they're off in a far corner somewhere.

I've no idea if there's any legal stipulation that says a car park on private land has to accommodate all vehicle types.

I don't think they do, neither do I think that it should be a legal requirement on private land. After all, a parking bay is a parking bay, not just a 'car' parking bay.

I just think that, with all the vehicles about, having one m/c in a full bay, is a waste of space, so kudos to Tesco for their good planning I say.

We have loads of supermarkets around here but AFAIK Tesco Extra is the only one witha. dedicated area, rather than a bay, and its coned off to stop cars going in there too. Its quite a big space as well.

I don't go to the supermarket often on the bike but when I do, I park as close to the entrance as I can without causing an obstruction. At my local big Sainsbury's all the bikes do that. Hardly ever see them in the bike parking bay.

The Sainsburys near me has a big area nearish the door for bikes. The Big tesco has a small bay on the far side of the car park.

In my area parking is usually free for two wheelers but they can get finicky about only using marked bays. One enforcement service tried to fine me for not parking in a proper bay but I appealed against it and won given that the location was actually not specifically marked at all and it turned out was outside the jurisdiction of the over officious attendant to whom I spoke. Some of the parking in central Waterlooville is not properly signed or marked out even though the Council policy is maintained as far as I know.

When shopping I use common sense so use a car bay when there are spaces to spare but use a kind of bicycle area that has partial hardware for locking bicycles and indeed no bicycles! Haven't had a problem yet. Our massive Tesco has a clearly marked area and so does Sainsburys. The signage along Southsea sea front is very clear in saying motorcycles are free but I'm never all that happy about using a car bay when there is plenty of space interspersed between rather arbitrary little islands separating cars and the bicycle lane. So far common sense usually seems to prevail.

The taxation class of a motorcycle is 'Bicycle'* so if anyone questions the right to stick a motorbike in a bicycle parking area you can give them a raised eyebrow/Boston finger and tell them the DVLA says it is a bicycle.

* well it was and I'm not aware that has changed but with the advent of electric bicycles of increasing power things may have changed or may do soon.

PS I wouldn't necessarily test the definition on a cycle path or bridleway though.