Row over Tesco trolleys abandoned in Greenham

In Reading, the borough council decided to charge stores a fee of £15 for the removal of trolleys, £7.50 for storage, £15 for the return delivery to the store and £50 for disposal.
After a proposal by West Berkshire district councillor Julian Swift-Hook (Lib Dem, Greenham) to follow Reading Borough Council’s lead, West Berkshire’s executive member for the environment, Hilary Cole (Con, Chieveley) voiced her agreement, telling the Newbury Weekly News that she was happy to consider a similar programme.
However, at a meeting of Greenham Parish Council, Mr Swift-Hook claimed that she had backtracked on the issue, citing comments made on local radio.
Mrs Cole then wrote to Mr Swift-Hook, denying that she had changed her mind and saying that she thought the Reading programme was a good idea. She added, however, that it would take time to implement.
Mrs Cole said: “It is self-evident that the main cause for concern is with Tesco trolleys [from the Pinchington Lane store]. As you are no doubt aware, Tesco has been contacted in the past and requested to take action which would help to solve this problem. And as you quite rightly state, so far, the situation has not improved.”
She said that she planned to meet with representatives of Tesco’s Pinchington Lane store, to ask them to install coin-operated trolleys, as has been done at other local supermarkets, including Sainsbury.
But not everyone in Greenham was placated, district councillor Billy Drummond (Lib Dem, Greenham) said: “I have been to Tesco on at least three occasions to speak to management over many years and still they let their trolleys go uncollected. We in Greenham need this new law as soon as possible to do away with this blight on our community.”
Mr Swift-Hook also poured scorn on her suggestion, saying he had asked Tesco to implement the coin operated system at this store more than four years ago, but have yet to see results.
A spokeswoman for Tesco, Hannah Carolin, said that the company was already planning on implementing a coin or token system at the store: “We work hard to ensure that our trolleys are collected and secured every night. In Newbury, we have installed a magnetic field that stops trolleys being taken beyond the store perimeter and we also plan to introduce trolleys that require a pound coin or token to release the trolley, to further reduce the number being taken.
"In spite of these measures, some people do still manage to remove trolleys from our stores and we are grateful to customers who make us aware of abandoned trolleys, as it enables us to collect them quickly.”