This car’s number plate may well spell ‘OUCH’ after it was hit by a runaway trolley.

Owner Felix Iruthayanathan, 37, discovered on Friday his VW Passat had been damaged when a shopping trolley rolled down a hill and struck the radiator grill.

He wants to see something done about the menace.

Telecommunications engineer Mr Iruthayanathan, of Wye Close, Tilehurst, complained to Asda in Honey End Lane where the trolley had come from.

He told the Reading Post: “These trolleys are left everywhere around here and Asda does not seem to be doing anything about them.

“I went to see the customer services manager and she said basically there was nothing they could do.

“Some stores have sensors to prevent people taking away the trolleys. Asda should do that.”

Asda store manager Mike Dunne said he had been present when Mr Iruthayanathan had complained to customer services manager Theresa Huggins and she had told him of a number of initiatives Asda was using to deal with the problem.

The store was in discussion with Reading Borough Council over installing a sensory cordon which can lock the wheels of a trolley pushed across it.

He said: “We have the trolleys but we are waiting to be allowed to dig up the road to put in the sensor as I understand it. Asda does not own all the land needed to install it.”

In addition, the store had recently employed a van driver to pick up stray trolleys two or three times a week.

Mr Dunne said: “We have a book at the customer service counter where customers can report any trolleys left where they shouldn’t be.

“The van driver has been going out for two or three weeks now. On his first day out he brought back 100 trolleys.”

He said after carrying out the collections for a few weeks, he was getting a clearer idea where the regular dumping areas were.

He said: “Our porters always speak to people to remind them to bring the trolleys back.”

He said the store was also in talks with the council about the possibility of making dumping trolleys in council property – particularly near flats – a breach of the tenancy agreement.

Council spokeswoman Sarah Bishton said it had not yet received any formal application about installing the sensor at Asda in Tilehurst.

She added: “It is already part of our tenancy agreement that people should not leave anything – rubbish or trolleys – in the communal areas of council flats.

“We have had to remind people of this in some places where they have been collecting trolleys.”

lfort@reading-epost.co.uk

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