Northampton pensioner pleads for school children to stop riding and abandoning Tesco trolleys outside his bungalow

A Northampton pensioner is pleading for young people to stop riding in and ditching supermarket trolleys outside of his house.

Norman Adams lives with his partner, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder, (OCD) in Redruth Close in Far Cotton, about a half-a-mile away from Tesco Extra in Mere Way.

Norman says trolleys have been abandoned in and around where he lives ever since Tesco Extra was built decades ago.

He said: "We seem to get masses of trolleys being brought down, mainly by the kids. I don't think they're going to Tesco to get them. I think other people have left them about, but they all seem to end up congregated down near where we live.

"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 trolleys can sometimes sit there for days. It's been going on since Tesco was built.

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

Norman believes children find the already abandoned trolleys in the area and then start pushing each other down a hill outside his home in them.

He said: "The issue gets worse when the kids go back to school. When they're not at school over the summer it subsides to next to nothing. But as soon as they go back to school you just notice it more.

"I've caught them on camera, so I know who's doing it. The tapes are available for people if they want to have a look, maybe they can pinpoint the culprits and have a word with them."

A Tesco spokesman said they are ‘really sorry to hear this’.

The spokesman 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.”

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."

Councilor Davenport also recommended the Trolleywise app.