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New bid to stop trolley dumping

A supermarket is using sensors to disable shopping trolleys in a bid to stop customers walking off with them.

Tesco's Goole branch has introduced the measure following complaints from residents about trolleys being dumped in their streets.

Magnetic strips have been placed at strategic points around the perimeter of the store and work by locking the wheels of the trolley when customers reach a certain point.

It is hoped that the new system - which is due to take effect some time this week - will stop people using the trolleys to take their supermarket goods home.

A Tesco spokesman said: "We do have a problem with trolleys being taken, so it's something we are trying to alleviate as much for our customers and the environment as for us. Hopefully, with this new system in place we won't have any more issues with trolleys being taken and abandoned, and it will work better for everyone."

She added that the new system - which already operates at other Tesco stores throughout the land - was part of a wider refurbishment programme at the Boothferry Road branch.

Residents say the the trolleys - which have been dumped in Milton Street, Weatherill Street and Centenary Road near the supermarket - have been left for up to five days in some cases and become full of rubbish.

This week the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's (ERYC's) Environmental Health Services said the taking of trolleys was becoming a major problem.

They were alerted by Goole resident Paul Thompson, who said he was "absolutely gobsmacked" to find trolleys left in his street stuffed with household waste.

Mr Thompson, of Milton Street, said: "I can't really understand why people do it in the first place. They take them to get their shopping home but a lot of them don't get collected and they get filled with rubbish such as people's household refuse.

"There has been a problem because the council only remove rubbish from green wheelie bins and they leave the rubbish that's in the shopping trolleys. I have seen four shopping trolleys just at the back of Milton Street - they were full of used toiletries, food and tins. The rubbish is left for about five days before the East Riding comes to pick it up as a health hazard."

Mr Thompson added: "I've seen what's in the trolleys and it's an absolute disgrace. But fair play to Tesco - if they are going to do something about it that's great. I just wish the East Riding council would be a bit more aggressive in prosecuting people who dump their rubbish."

Steve Brackenbury, the East Riding Council's principal street scene officer, said the authority "applauded" Tesco's efforts to clean up the local environment by introducing the magnetic strips.

He also stressed that the council always tried to pick up rubbish from fly-tipping - including shopping trolleys - within 48 hours of a report being made.

"The usual thing is for us to contact the supermarket if there was a trolley abandoned on the street," he added. "At the end of the day nobody wants to lose them because they are quite expensive."

Mr Brackenbuy said it was supermarkets' responsibility in the first place to have shopping trolleys removed when they had been dumped in the street.

Published on 12th June 2008 in News.

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