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Local
Oaa member Ian Finylas, sicken by the problem of
supermarket trolleys abandoned in the Ogmore river
has written to the customer services department
of Tesco stores regarding this pollution problem.
He stated that "As a resident of Bridgend
Mid Glamorgan, and a member of the local fishing
association I am absolutely appalled at the environmental
impact to the river ogmore caused by Tesco shopping
trolleys that have been dumped in just about every
pool within a 2 mile stretch of the Brewery Lane
store. Some cases in town centre pools there are
as many as 4 trolleys. Apart from the nuisance to
fishermen the trolleys are an environmental eyesore.
The river is one of the town's principle assets."
Ian demanded to know what Tesco's were doing to
prevent trolleys leaving their premises and in view
of Tesco portraying themselves as a community store,
why are they not conducting their own periodic clean
up operation to recover the lost trolleys?
Tesco have had some very expensive history on this
subject, they were prosecuted on Sep 8 2001 in the
first case of its kind for knowingly
allowing shopping trolleys to be dumped in a river.
A fine of £30,000 was enforced after pleading guilty
to knowing and permitting the trolleys to be dumped
in the River Chelmer at Chelmsford in Essex. A total
of 33 Tesco trolleys had been found in the river
during a clean-up
operation, Chelmsford Crown Court was told. The
Environment Agency said it is the first case of
its kind brought against a supermarket chain under
the Water Resources Act. The chain has also been
ordered to pay more than £7,500 in costs for the
offences which took place in April 1999 and between
May and August 2000.
Tesco's response " I was concerned to
learn of the problems encountered in relation to
trolleys at our Bridgend store. Please accept my
sincere apologies for the upset that this has caused.
I would like to assure you that your experience
is not indicative of our usual standard of service.
However, to ensure that your concerns are fully
investigated, I have passed a copy of your correspondence
to our Store Manager. I feel that under the circumstances,
it is appropriate for this matter to be dealt with
at our store, as they are best placed to investigate
the issues thoroughly.
I have asked that once they have completed the investigation
that they take the necessary steps to resolve the
matter, and contact you directly to advise you of
the outcome.
While I can appreciate that there is little that
can be done to alleviate the inconvenience that
has already been caused, I do hope that you will
accept my sincerest apologies and give your local
store the time to resolve this matter.
Once again, please accept my sincere apologies
for the inconvenience that this incident has caused
you. I do hope that once you hear from our Bridgend
store, we will have restored your confidence in
our operations.
Kind regards
Fiona Stewart
Customer Service Manager"
Having
waited two weeks for a reply Ian wrote another letter
" I am not going to let this matter
drop, and if something does not happen soon I intend
to raise the matter in the local press, with the
environmental department of the Bridgend council
and with the Environment Agency. I am a reasonable
man and would prefer that Tesco "take the bull
by the horns" and formulate an effective plan
to combat trolley theft and the associated environmental
impact to the river Ogmore.
Regards"
The
Latest Tesco response is as follows,
"RE:
pollution problem at Tesco brewery lane Bridgend
Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 14:56:21 +0100
Please accept my sincere apologies that no action
has been taken by the store regarding the ongoing
problems with the trolleys in your area.
I had received correspondence from the store regarding
this matter - please find below a copy of this:
We have help from the OGMORE ANGLING ASSOCIATION
they get the trolleys out for us and we help their
charity. The trolley boy recovered 2 last Friday
and another 2 this week .The trolley boy did not
go into the river they were on the banking.
There is a problem around the area due to vandals
and we feel we do everything in our power to maintain
the standards. The trolley boy with two other persons
recovered 20 from the nearest estate just last week
again.
There are two bridges alongside the store plus another
exit making it impossible for the trolley boy to
stop customers pushing their trolley away from the
store. We do not like to see the trolleys in the
river as you can well understand We are a friendly
and caring store .If there is anything that could
help us that we are not already actioning I will
be pleased to action immediately.
I have spoken to Ray Hunt of the Ogmore Angling
Society and have arranged the river to be cleared
again. Ray says it is due 7th June however he will
try and get it sorted before.
I hope this is of some help to you? If I can be
of any further assistance please don't hesitate
to contact me back.
Kind regards
Fiona Stewart
Customer Service Manager
If you wish to contact us please click on one of
the following links.
UK customers - http://www.tesco.com/contact.htm
Republic of Ireland customers - http://www.tesco.ie/contact.htm
The
saga continues with Ian's reply dated 24th May 2002:-
"Thank
you for your reply
I must say that there appears to be no imagination
or will on the part of Tesco to take effective measures
to combat the root cause of this problem. You
have openly admitted the situation is out of control. How
about-
1. Coin deposit trolleys.
These are proven to dramatically reduce the instances
of trolley misuse and the trolleys are returned
automatically by the customer. This would allow
the trolley boy more time to concentrate on security.
Your store in Chelmsford was forced to adopt this
system.
2. Display prominent signs at each exit warning
that Tesco will actively prosecute anybody caught
removing a trolley from the site as is the case
with shop lifting.
3.Employ a subcontractor to regularly empty the
river of trolleys. The Ogmore angling assoc relies
on persuading it's members to attend river clean
ups, giving up their own free and precious weekend
time. These take place in March, April, May
and June. What about the other 8 months of the year. It's
your problem not theirs. I would rather be fishing
on my day off.
4.Raise
the matter with the police and ask their assistance
in apprehending any body seen using a trolley outside
the confines of the store
5.
Count the stock of trolleys at the end of each
working day and monitor the scale and cost of
the problem "what gets measured gets done"
It seems to me Tesco is more or less content to
accept that trolleys go missing. Your store
in Chelmsford was prosecuted and fined for "Knowingly" allowing
a situation to develop that led to pollution of
the river. If some or all of the above measures
were adopted I have no doubt that the scale of the
problem could be reduced to an acceptable level.
Please let me know of your views on the preventative
measure I have suggested
Regards
Ian Finylas"
I
am pleased to report that the correspondence
continues,
"pollution
problem at Tesco brewery lane Bridgend Date: Sat,
25 May 2002 14:11:59 +0100
Thank you for your e-mail I have passed a copy of
your suggestions over to the store so that these
can be taken onboard. Each of these ideas are very
positive and personally I feel that they would help
the store greatly in the long run.
Thank you for getting back to me.
Kind regards
Fiona Stewart
Customer Service Manager"
It's
nice to hear that at least the customer services
manager Fiona Stewart, appears to be sympathetic
to our cause, even if the Bridgend store manager
doesn't. Do you agree with the Bridgend Tesco store
manager's reply, is your local Tesco store doing
all they can? I'm sorry but this is one resident
of Bridgend and member of the OAA that does not
agree. As a fishing club are we unpaid employee's
of Tesco's required to remove their trolleys
from our river, and what's this about helping out
the "charity", what charity? are we a
charity case? Let me know what you think rob@ogmoreriver.com
or better still contact Tesco's direct customer.services@tesco.co.uk.
and voice your concerns.
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