The Tesco Extra store at Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook Centre has announced that it is to introduce a £1 shopping trolley release mechanism to improve trolley availability, free up parking spaces and improve the local environment.
In a direct response to customer feedback, the £1 deposit – to be introduced from Wednesday 16th May – will improve the availability of trolleys at the mall entrances and deter the removal of trolleys from the Willow Brook site in Bradley Stoke.
Abandoned supermarket trolleys are a problem in many parts of the country, and Willow Brook and Tesco wish to discourage the removal of trolleys from the site.
As well as increasing the number of trolleys at the entrances, the new initiative will mean more available car parking spaces as lone trolleys will not be left blocking parking spaces. Walkways and pavements will also be clearer.
Shoppers will, of course, get their £1 coin back when they return the trolley to the trolley bays dotted around the car park and at the mall entrances.
In addition to working with a £1 coin, the trolley release mechanism can be operated with a charity coin available for a donation to charity from Tesco. Profits from the charity tokens will go to Tesco’s nominated charity, which this year is Cancer Research.
Pete Ballam, Store Manager at Tesco Extra, said:
“Occasionally local residents have been annoyed to find abandoned trolleys in the streets near to Willow Brook, they have asked us to introduce such a system and we have. We aim to keep the trolleys on site for our customer’s convenience.”
Customer Service Manager Rob Radford added:
“I am sure our shoppers will understand why we have introduced the scheme and will quickly get used to having a pound coin in their pocket or purse when they come shopping at Willow Brook..”
Source: Press release from the Willow Brook Centre
It will be interesting to know if the scheme will apply to all Tesco trolleys.
Sainsburys only have the £1 fee in repect of their shallow trolleys. The deeper trolleys are not pert of the £1 deposit scheme.
When I asked a “trolley mover person” for this reason he said only the shallow trolleys “walked”, the deeper trolleys seemed to be of no interest to potential thieves or non-returners.
Why has it taken nearly four years (since the store opened) for them to do this?
Aldi in Bradley Stoke have had deposit trolleys for years and you never see their trolleys dumped around town.
Lets hope Tesco repair the wheels on all their trolleys then, often you have to pull out two or three before you can find one without a chunk missing from usually one of the back wheels.If you now have to pay a pound to release your trolley you will be stuck with whichever one is next. Is it just me or does anyone else find the clunk clunk very annoying, obviously the heavier the trolley the worse it is.
The problem is more the poor placement of trolley deposit areas around the car park. There are many areas where trying to take your trolley back involves a walk across busy areas of the car park, and introducing an incentive to take trolleys back will not make this any easier.
You are right Dave, it’s an appallingly set out car park as we all know and whilst this deposit scheme will hopefully cure the blight of abandoned trolleys will mean shoppers having to re-cross roads/walk along the middle of access ways to find a trolley shed so coming into further contact with cars.
It will lead to an increased risk of accidents involving cars and shoppers and shows once more that the car park is not fit for purpose.
On one of my rare visits there I see absolutley nothing has been done to remove the Willow Brook sign that completely blocks visibility when trying to exit the road by Pets at Home/Poundland.
Safety – yeah right.
Well done Tesco! Another scheme to drive shoppers away.
Firstly we have an ill-designed car park with a disproportionate number of disabled parking spaces and too few trolley parks…….and, of course, the ‘jobsworth’ parking wardens.
Then shoppers have to contend with almost all the spaces near Tesco being taken up by staff, meaning that the public have to walk a considerable distance (often in pouring rain) only to find that the shallow trolleys have not been collected by those paid to do so, necessitating another unnecessary walk to find one. Not the best frame of mind to start the weekly shop! (Asda and The Mall have a separate car park for their staff)
Of course, the most effective deterrent to happy shopping must be the introduction of the ‘road bumps’! Enough has already been said about these ill-placed, suspension ruining, time wasting, blood pressure raising monstrosities……….
I totally agree with anon-e-mouse about the Willow Brook sign – are they waiting for an accident to happen before this sign is removed?
The final straw is now the trolley deposit scheme which Tesco are trying to present as being in the public interest. I don’t think so! I have no problem with these trolleys in a smaller car park like Aldi but it is simply not practical in a rambling, ill-designed car park like Willow Brook, especially in wet weather.
So, goodbye Tesco – I, for one, won’t be back.
I’m glad to see some measures taken to get people to stop being so lazy and actually return their trollies to the bays provided.
A LOT of the comments here seem a bit “Stoke Croft” to me….Aside from the glaring issue of the terrible sign, there appears to be a lot of unwarranted anti Tesco feeling.
Walking across the busy car park? Please…! I’m sure that none of the dissenters even bother, as they shop elsewhere. If they do shop there, they will do so now, as they have £1 invested in their safety? If it’s THAT unsafe, why not just leave the trolley and let someone else have a £1?!?
Speed bumps? Rather they weren’t there, but realistically if you drive conservatively they have no ill effect on the car.
Too many disabled spaces next to the store?!? LOL Yeah I mean people with mobility issues should walk as far as you do to get to the store. Amount of spaces afforded to them is a moot point. I regularly see abled bodied people using said spaces (and then no doubt complaining about the “jobsworth” parking attendants)….
Been saving this rant up for a while, but a LOT of you need to take some ownership. Stop dumping your trollies in the parking spaces, stop using the closest space even if it’s not intended for you, and just stop being such a lazy individual…..
+1 Completely agree with you @Patchway Bloke
For those moaning about the number of disabled bays this is because the centre was designed to meet BS8300 standards for disabled people; which recommends:
4.2.1.3 – “Shopping, recreation and leisure facilities
For shopping, recreation and leisure facilities, the minimum number
of designated spaces should be one space for each employee who is
a disabled motorist, plus 6% of the total capacity for visiting disabled
motorists. A further 4% of the total capacity should be enlarged
standard spaces (see 4.2.1.1).”
If your bored, have nothing better to do feel free to read the 232 page document then get your tape measure and calculator out! – http://www.aati.co.uk/media/regulations/BS8300.pdf
Oh and I personally hate shopping; will only go to Tesco either late at night or just pay £3-5 to have my shopping delivered to my door. Lazy I know, but I have better things to do in my life. My grandparents are disabled badge holders and make use of the disabled bays; without being able to park close they would really struggle to go shopping.
As for the £1 trolley release mechanism its about time! It will allow the trolley staff to be able to more effectively move trolleys from the bays to the front of the store; rather than having to go around and collect stray trolleys all the time.
just to point out to the most people on here tesco don’t own the carpark they only own there store itself. so all they have a say in is the trolley not the wardens or layout
As an Ex employee of Tesco, I used to work in the car park on trolleys, Ex-Tesco shoppers comment “only to find that the shallow trolleys have not been collected by those paid to do so” yeah you try and walk around the car park picking up peoples trolleys that they have decided to leave in the walkways, on verges or in car parking spaces, yes I was paid to do this, I was also paid to ensure there are trolleys at the front of the store at all times, easier said than done. Going to the bays is easy as you just load up the machine and bring the trolleys down, however stop starting constantly to pick up peoples trolleys in car spaces slows you right down. Also many people forget there are no bays at the rear of the car park, meaning randomly placed trolleys everywhere which also takes a long time to collect. If there are 2 members of staff on duty then one will take the front of the car park bays A and B and the back of C and the other will take C and D and the overflow. The £1 trolley scheme I think is a good idea, as it encourages people to return trolleys and therefore freeing up the walkways which can get very full of trolleys, this scheme is only a good idea if bays are added at the rear of the car park which should have been done a long time ago, but i believe the bays are actually owned by Willow Brook. Rant over ohh and p.s when the trolley machine gets to the front of the store please wait for it to stop before asking for a trolley, asking the guys for a trolley as soon as it gets to the square whilst its still moving only slows them down and believe me stopping that machine with lots of trolleys on it isnt as easy as it looks.
At last an incentive to make people take their trolley back.
As for those moaning about having to walk around the car park because staff are taking up the parking spaces nearest the store – You lazy person you!!! I bet you’re the sort who unless they can park right outside something won’t use it. No wonder you are so fat!!!
K – I understood this was a forum for the public to express their opinions – not an excuse for personal rudeness.
I hope someone has given some sensible thought to the logistics involved in returning the larger trollies with the double seats for children. Will there be adequate stations around the carpark to accommodate all sorts/sizes of trollies? If not, will it mean parents having to return their empty trollies to the main door then struggling back to parked cars with two babies? I have similar concerns for disabled people. Please note, this is not a complaint, merely a consideration.
Saw trolley being put to good use outside Meadowbrook School this morning. The “Do not Park” signs to help the safety of the children around the school gates that are put out daily, were being transported in a supermarket trolley! One can only hope it was abandoned by an inconsiderate shopper and then put to good use for the greater community!
Visited yesterday and not a single trolley left strewn around the car park, amazing what difference there is to the level of people’s idleness when being lazy will cost them £1.00!!