Lib Dem U Turn on Labour's Lost Trolley Law

4 February 2006

From the 7th of February the City Council will be fining any supermarket that does not remove trolleys left on the street within 24 hours of it being reported, using powers recently given to local authorities by the Labour government.

Petersfield Labour councillor Ben Bradnack, who started a campaign on this issue in Petersfield ward last year said:

I am hoping that use of this power will at last get ASDA to re-instate their wheel lock system, which will hopefully reduce the number of trolleys littering our streets. So I am particularly pleased for the residents of Petersfield.

Last year Lib Dem councillors said they were reluctant to use powers given them by central government to deal with the issue because they 'did not think it was a real problem'. This seemed a perverse response to what was on offer, and to demonstrate a wilful blindness to problems faced by people other than themselves, not just in Petersfield but in many parts of the city.

I am pleased that vigorous campaigning on the issue has eventually persuaded them to make a U-turn.