SHOPPING trolley bays should be installed outside Stockland’s William Street entrance and up the road outside Pantano’s Bar & Grill, Bathurst Regional councillor Alex Christian says.
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The high number of discarded shopping trolleys around the city has him and fellow councillor Warren Aubin calling for immediate change.
Shopping trolleys littering the city’s streets has long irked Cr Aubin who first raised the issue with the Western Advocate in October 2012.
At council’s recent policy committee meeting, Cr Christian said Stockland’s William Street entry was a hot spot for dumped trolleys.
“I would like to see trolley bays erected outside Stockland and on the corner of William and Howick streets near Pantano’s,” he said.
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“People aren’t really getting the message [not to dump them].”
Cr Christian suggested council rangers should impound renegade trolleys and only return them to the retailer once a $100 fee had been paid.
While, Cr Aubin called for rangers to instead ensure that the applicable $110 on-the-spot fine was charged to shoppers who discard trolleys.
“Can we please get someone to go out and hand out infringement notices? Let’s not be a toothless tiger,” he urged others at the meeting.
“The community will start taking it seriously if council starts handing out fines.”
Late last year, Cr Aubin told the Advocate that there was an “epidemic” of discarded trolleys and they all belonged to major retailers – except for one.
It’s Coles, it’s Woolworths, it’s Big W, Target and the occasional IGA [trolley]; there are no Aldi trolleys out there, not one.
- Bathurst Regional councillor Warren Aubin
“It’s Coles, it’s Woolworths, it’s Big W, Target and the occasional IGA [trolley]; there are no Aldi trolleys out there, not one,” he said.
Cr Aubin said discarded trolleys not only made the city look untidy, but they were being used to cause damage to shops late at night.
He suggested supermarkets, Big W and Target to use the same locking mechanism as Aldi to encourage shoppers to return their trolley.
“It’s not a hard fix,” Cr Aubin said.