Angry shoppers 'trapped' for hours in John Lewis car park at Solihull shopping centre

A number of shoppers have been stuck in their cars at a popular Solihull shopping centre after roadworks outside appeared to have caused traffic chaos. Several motorists reported being stuck in the John Lewis car park at the Touchwood Shopping Centre in Solihull ‘for hours’ on Saturday (November 9) afternoon.

Cars backed up in the car park with aisles and the exit blocked, with the issue put down to roadworks in Homer Road, with the turn left lane in Herbert Road also shut off. With heavy traffic in the area, only four cars were able to get through red lights at a time according to frustrated motorists.

And with the weight of traffic in Herbert Road, some joining further up and others exiting the car park, the backlog of traffic led to drivers being ‘trapped’ inside the car park.

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David Hemming posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, to the Touchwood Centre and said: “You are going to have to do something to manage the exit from the John Lewis car park. I appreciate the issues but I am on the 4th floor in the overflow section and nobody has moved for over an hour!

“I appreciate the efforts but the lower floors seem clear but the top floors are not moving - perhaps a managed exit giving some priority to the 4th and 5th floor might be needed. I have been static for over an hour and still no signs of moving and I am in the furtherest point.”

Another frustrated motorist, who asked not to be named, said she arrived at midday and was shopping for wedding outfits. But when she went to leave at 2pm, her and her family became stuck at the centre for hours. She said there were people with babies and others on their own that could not move. She said a number were sounding their horns in frustration.

The 28-year-old told BirminghamLive: “We were parked on the fourth floor but when we went to leave at 2pm we moved two car lengths in two hours. We were stuck and then saw a gap and went to the fifth floor to try and join the exit.

“We reported it hours ago. The police told us it was a civil matter. We contacted the help desk and they said they were contacting the council.

“We went and looked and what’s happened is they have shut a road for roadworks where the police station is and you can’t turn left. The traffic lights were only letting four cars out before the traffic lights changed.

“We came up to the fifth floor in the end as it was easier to join the exit. We eventually got out after two-and-a-half hours after they had a man stood ushering people out while the lights were on red. If they were going to close the road they should have closed the car park. People were trapped.”

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The Touchwood Shopping Centre responded on X to Mr Hemming and said: “Sorry David, we have three members of our team in the car park talking to drivers whilst liaising with the roadwork contractors on Homer Road at the same time to get the traffic moving.”

A spokeswoman for John Lewis said the car park belongs to the Touchwood Centre and the roadworks are the council's responsibility. She told BirminghamLive: “The council are doing roadworks and there are lanes closed.

"Due to the volume of traffic, and a timing issue of people having 15 minutes to leave, it's caused problems. The police were also there directing traffic because of the traffic lights issue. Our team went to offer water to people in their cars. The queue had cleared by 5.20pm. We will be speaking to the council on Monday about the issues caused."

A spokesnan for Touchwood Shopping Centre said: "We can confirm there were significant delays for guests exiting the John Lewis car park this afternoon as a result of the partial lane closure of Homer Road to facilitate the heat network installation in Solihull Town Centre. The Vital Energi and Solihull Council project teams were able to mitigate such issues following a similar incident on Monday with the Touchwood car park, and are now confident they can prevent a repeat of today’s challenges with the John Lewis car park moving forwards.

"Touchwood continues to work with Solihull Council and Vital Energi to prevent disruption for our guests and offer our sincerest apologies for anyone caught in these unacceptable delays. From Tuesday 12h November the extent of the works will be reduced, lessening the impact on Solihull congestion during these works."

Works are taking place overnight on the 11th through to the 12th to open up Homer Road both ways from Tuesday 12th at 6am. The Touchwood car park will be closed between 8pm on the 11th until 6am on 12th November.

Solihull Council has also been approached for a response.