Store boycott over runaway trolley

The trolleys have caused damage to several cars

A shopper is boycotting a supermarket over their unruly shopping trolleys.

David Hudson from Mickleover, Derbyshire says the trolleys caused expensive damage to his car.

He is angry that Tesco will not contribute to the cost of repairs.

A nearby garages said trolley damage is a common problem for motorists who use the Mickleover store, whose car park is built on a slope.

Common problem

After a shopping trip Mr Hudson found a dent on the rear of the car below the light.

A trolley had apparently rolled out of an overcrowded bay and struck his car.

While looking for quotes, several garages correctly guessed the origins of the damage, saying it was a common problem.

The damage ranged from small dents to a £400 scrape on a Jaguar Jane Clark, Burnaston Garage

Mr Hudson said: "I was led to believe they would look after a valued customer but later they said the liability was with the person who failed to secure the trolley.

"I can see their point if it was left just anywhere but someone had tried to put this trolley away and because the bay was overflowing, it rolled off."

Jane Clark, from Burnaston Garage in Mickleover, said: "In the past fortnight we have had three or four incidents relating to trolley damage.

"And those are just the people who came to us, so it's not just an isolated incident."

Liability refused

She added: "The damage ranged from small dents to a £400 scrape on a Jaguar."

In a statement Tesco said: "While we regret this incident Tesco has a policy for dealing with such issues.

"We have teams of trolley collectors patrolling our car parks and most of our customers return their trolleys to the designated bays where they are secure until collected.

"However, occasionally a customer leaves their trolley unsecured and damage such as this can be caused to another customer's vehicle.

"While we appreciate this customer's comments we believe we demonstrated due diligence in that our trolley team was operating at the store at the time and therefore we cannot accept liability."