Misuse of shopping trolleys irks shoppers

SINGAPORE - Some grocery shoppers do more than walk down the aisles - they get pushed along.

Shopper Yan Fen, 44, was appalled to see a woman in her late teens to early 20s sitting in a trolley and taking selfies at the FairPrice Xtra branch in Nex mall in Serangoon around midnight on April 20.

"On weekends I can easily see eight trolleys with children in them," she said.

"But this adult in the trolley was too much. She was very proud of it."

Miss Yan sent pictures she took to citizen journalism website Stomp, saying: "They are using it like a human toy car!"

On Stomp, other users had previously sent in pictures of people misusing trolleys at other FairPrice outlets, like that at Changi Airport, and at furniture giant Ikea's stores.

On joyriding in trolleys, an Ikea spokesman said: "Those who misuse our trolleys will be advised not to do so for safety reasons. Safety is one of the key priorities at Ikea."

Miss Yan, who buys groceries at FairPrice Xtra in Nex mall, said she has been seeing more parents letting their children ride in trolleys, outside the child seats, over the last year or so.

Sitting in the main compartment of a trolley is not allowed. Signs near FairPrice trolley bays advise that children should sit only in the child seats.

Miss Yan said she understood that some parents put their children in the trolleys as they did not want them running around.

But she felt it was unhygienic because children wore shoes while in the trolleys.

She said some supermarket staff would request customers to take their children out of the trolleys, but most just let them be.

A FairPrice spokesman said that all staff were briefed on proper trolley usage, and trolleys were cleaned regularly.

"Sitting in a trolley can be dangerous and could hurt the person in the trolley should it collide with other shoppers or topple over," he said. "Such use is also unhygienic, since trolleys are used to carry food."

The New Paper went to FairPrice Xtra in Nex mall last Wednesday evening and saw a child, who appeared to be around five, sitting in a trolley while wearing her shoes. Her mother and younger sister were pushing the trolley.

The girl's mother, who declined to give her name, said: "She runs around and hits other people and things."

She felt it was safer for her daughter to sit in the trolley. She checked to see that her daughter did not stand up.

Miss Yan said some shoppers put their own foldable trolleys with wheels inside the bigger supermarket trolleys.

One such user was 65-year-old Susie. She thought children sitting in trolleys was unhygienic, but putting her own trolley in was acceptable. She started wheeling it on leaving the supermarket.

myp@sph.com.sg

This article by The New Paper was published in MyPaper, a free, bilingual newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.

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