Supermarket chain Tesco has declared war on selfish drivers who park in reserved spaces rather than walk a few extra yards to go shopping.

The company is launching what it calls an "aggressive psychological campaign" to shame motorists who misuse parking bays reserved for disabled people or parents with young children.

Offending cars will be ticketed with warning stickers and Tesco is considering allowing individual stores to ban persistent abusers.

Managers say the issue tops the list of complaints from their customers.

Shoppers say seeing other drivers using the reserved spaces is what angers them most about going shopping.

Company spokesman Wayne Padia said: "The guilty people are all fit and well, but out to save themselves a walk of 20 yards. They cause a lot of grief to customers who need these spaces.

"We need to shame them into stopping, because, too often, asking them results in very serious unpleasantness."

The reserved bays will now get colourful markings so no-one can claim to have made a mistake. Disabled spaces will be painted orange and blue and parent and toddler ones in lilac and white.

Mr Padia said: "Anyone parking there who shouldn't be will be extremely visible to everyone around them. They will have to be entirely shameless to abuse these spaces."

**Before the launch of the campaign, the Oxford Mail paid a visit to Tesco's Marcham Road store in Abingdon to see how many drivers ignored the disabled logo on parking spaces closest to the main entrance.

Most said they were stopping for "a couple of minutes", although they accepted they were taking a space reserved for less able shoppers.

Ashley Clements, 19, from Kennington, said: "Basically, it's down to being lazy. I'm only going to the cash dispenser and it'll take me a couple of minutes. There's nowhere to park in Abingdon to go to the bank."

A couple who paused first on yellow lines before darting into a disabled space as it became vacant, were less humble.

"Yeah, all right," said the young woman at the wheel. "He was only going to be a couple of minutes anyway."