Anger over dumped trolleys

In the last five weeks alone, 50 trolleys have gone from Tesco in Cowley Road - forcing managers to order an entire new fleet.

East Oxford residents are also unhappy at the discarded trolleys.

Richard Feather, of Magdalen Road, said: "I'm fed up with seeing my street full of shopping trolleys.

"Tesco say they send the van round every day to collect them but as far as I can tell they don't do anything to stop them taking them."

New legislation came into force earlier this year allowing local authorities to charge supermarkets up to £200 for retrieving trollies.

But a report on the powers will not be discussed by Oxford City Council until December and, if agreed, it will be three months before charging can begin.

Cowley Road Tesco manager Den Mallon said: "It is a huge problem. I am now in the process of ordering a new fleet to replace the ones that have disappeared over the last five weeks."

He said a van was being sent out on Wednesday to fetch dumped trolleys - and new trolleys with wheels which lock when taken a certain distance from the store would be introduced when the branch was refitted in January.

The Heyford Hill branch of Sainsburys already has the special trolleys in place - but manager Gavin Claxton said some customers still managed to remove them.

He said: "What we can't do is prevent people lifiting their trolleys over the grid which is the only way they can get them past a certain distance."

At Asda, in Wheatley, manager James Varney said trolleys being taken off premises was a big problem.

He said: "It's largely driven by students. What we try to do to manage that is liaise with the people at the colleges and come up with an arrangement to get them returned.

"I actually do see students pushing them down the street and I'll stop them personally and ask them to bring them back."

Sid Phelps, councillor for St Mary's Ward, Oxford, said he was frustrated that council officers were not yet able to enforce the law.