Dumped trolley problem ‘needs fresh approach’

ISSUE PLAGUED AREA FOR YEARS

THE problem of dumped shopping trolleys that has plagued a suburb for years needs a fresh look, a councillor says.

Beaumont Leys ward city councillor Paul Thomas Westley said the issue – particularly with Tesco trolleys – has been present for all of the 26 years he has represented the area.

He said: “We’ve taken the issue up with Tesco so many times, but they are still being left all over and causing a general nuisance.

“They’ve tried pound coins and even put up lines to physically block people from taking trolleys out of the shopping centre. Something has got to be done.

“In all honesty, the issue would ideally require 24-hour staff to patrol the area and collect the trolleys that are being left.

“But that would take too much council resources and we don’t want to keep increasing taxes to counteract the issue.

“Everyone is suffering financially so we don’t want to resort to that.

“People in the area need to have more thought for the environment, it is not just down to Tesco.”

But he said: “I think Tesco needs to look at what can be done – they could put notices up.

“We’d be happy to meet with them again but it’s difficult chasing them up all the time.” He said other supermarkets in the area, such as Iceland and Aldi do not seem to have similar problems.

“Tesco ought to offer complementary deliveries because there are a lot of elderly people who can’t carry heavy stuff,” Coun Westley said.

“We have no real problem with Aldi or Iceland so I think it is something for Tesco to also consider.”

A Tesco spokeswoman said: “We ask everyone visiting our Beaumont Leys Extra to return their trolleys once they have finished their shop for other customers to use.”

“We employ a specialist company to rescue our trollies back to stores and we would urge anyone who sees an abandoned Tesco trolley to report it using the Trolleywise app or let their store know so we can get it back as soon as possible.”