Supermarket safety? – Gill’s new invention has it covered
AN AMATEUR inventor has come up with a device to help protect against coronavirus in one of the places people are most vulnerable.
Gill Halpin, 64,
from Poynton, says supermarkets are a potential minefield for Covid-19 as customers push trolleys round used by dozens of other people.
So she has invented a cover for the handle that people can just clip on and off the handle of trolleys to provide a barrier to germs and infection.
It is called the Popiton and made from pipe insulation foam that is cut to size and can then - if desired - be covered with material to give it a more appealing look.
Gill said: “The idea came just from the fact that I realised shopping trolley handles are rampant with germs.
“They will be the most infected thing we all come in contact with. Shoppers cough and splutter right in the firing line of the handles. People talk about door handles but we only touch them for a second at a time. Shopping t ro l l e y s can be for 30 minutes o r more.
“We may go in lockdown, but we can’t avoid
shopping so I think this could make a real difference.”
Gill, who so far has made 30 prototypes, has spoken with a supplier of the insulating foam that is happy to provide the raw materials. But she is now looking for companies or organisations - particularly supermarkets themselves - that will help distribute the finished product.
The idea came to her on Thursday, March 12, while she was out at a supermarket.
Gill, who has a grown up son and daughter and works as a financial controller, said: “I am very worried personally as we are not in possession of all the facts.
“I can understand how things can explode and rapidly change.
”But I think this is something people in every town and village can get involved with, these things are a doddle to make.”