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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Adam Dutton

Grandad's garden destroyed by 'joy-riding' kids on Tesco shopping trolleys

A grandfather's garden has been destroyed by teenagers "joy-riding" on supermarket trolleys.

Norman Adams, 75, says dozens of Tesco shopping carts have been dumped outside the sheltered housing complex near Hardingstone, Northampton.

He even fears being mown down because the yobs use a slope outside the property as a "trolley luge".

The pensioner said: "It's only a matter of time before someone gets mown down by one of these trolleys. They don't have brakes and they can pick up speed.

"To me, it's an accident waiting to happen and the issue needs sorting before someone gets hurt.

"The trolleys can sometimes sit there for days. I find at least one new one every day."

CCTV footage shows teenagers playing with Tesco trolleys the property (Norman Adams / SWNS)

Norman, who is a retired engineer, has called on Tesco to improves security at a nearby supermarket to stop kids nicking trolleys.

But the grandfather of five has even installed a CCTV camera on his bungalow in a desperate bid to catch the culprits.

Norman, who has four grown-up children, continued: "We seem to get masses of trolleys being brought down, mainly by the kids.

"We live at the bottom of a slope with the Tesco at the top, right next to a school with 1,000 pupils.

"Some of the kids use the slope as a sort of trolley luge. I was young once and I understand the temptation but it's getting out of hand now.

"If you get three, four or five of them [bunched together] they block the path.

"I live in sheltered housing so there are a lot of people around here who have got mobility scooters who get trapped in and can't move.

The retired engineer, who lives with his partner, has called on Tesco to do more to stop people nicking trolleys (Northampton Chronicle&Echo/ SWNS)

"Tesco really need to do something to stop people taking the trolleys off their premises.

"I live with someone with OCD so it really stresses them. It doesn't only affect us, either."

Norman has noticed the chaos worsen since the start of the month when term time resumed.

Independent councillor Julie Davenport, of the Delapre and Rushmere ward, said she has been working to fix this issue for years.

She said: "Trolleys being left around the streets is a real issue for residents.

"Some students do use them, pushing other students around and they've thrown them over the fence onto the school playing fields.

"It's not a student problem as such, shoppers use them to bring shopping home, leave them in the streets and young people play with them.

"Tesco say it has a mechanism on its trolleys to stop them leaving its property but they are not maintained and I believe the mechanisms can be disabled.

"In November 2015 I put forward a motion for supermarkets to be charged for every trolley the council collect but I had to accept an amendment."

Tesco has apologised and urged customers to "return our trollies back to stores".

A spokesperson said: "We encourage everyone visiting our stores to return their trolleys once they have finished their shop for other customers to use.

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

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