Trolley trouble — strays ‘everywhere’ in Mullingar

Stray shopping trolleys are turning up “everywhere” in Mullingar, a frustrated Cllr Bill Collentine told colleagues at the March meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad.

“They’re all over the roads. They’re in housing states. They’re thrown behind walls,” he said.

It had got to the extent that the problem was costing the town marks in the Tidy Towns competition, the Fianna Fail man said, adding that it was now 16 years since he first raised the problem for discussion.

Cllr Collentine called on the council to put in place an arrangement for shopping trolleys to be collected by supermarkets and for penalties to apply when they are not collected.

In its written reply, the district stated that when a disused trolley is reported to the district, it is checked to identify which shop it belongs to.

“The relevant shop is contacted directly to advise and request them to collect their property. Where no identifying label is on the trolley, it is then removed by the district staff,” the response concluded.

Cllr Collentine said he was aware that system exists: “But it doesn’t seem to be working,” he said.

He suggested that a penalty system would encourage supermarkets to introduce trolleys that have a locking system that prevents customers taking them beyond a certain point.

“I want some sort of commitment there that we sit down and try and solve this problem in some shape or form,” he said.

The council’s director of services Deirdre Reilly undertook to raise the issue with the district manager and the community wardens in a bid to come up with a solution to the problem.

“You’re right, it’s not acceptable that shopping trolleys would be left around our district and therefore cause us to get bad markings with the Tidy Towns,” Ms Reilly said.