SUPERMARKETS in Droitwich which fail to collect abandoned shopping trolleys will be stung with a fine under new rules by Wychavon District Council.

Members of the District Council’s Executive Board agreed at a meeting on Wednesday to grant officers powers to charge companies £100 for the first abandoned trolley found and £50 for every additional one collected.

The new rules, which will come into force on March 1, 2016, have been sparked by a rise in complaints from residents and councillors about abandoned trolleys littering the district, in particular Evesham.

During a public consultation into introducing the new rules, Droitwich Spa Civic Society spoke out against imposing a charge in a letter to the council.

The letter said: "The Society feel that it would be wrong to penalise the Supermarkets for the actions of their customers. We do not appear to have a large problem with abandoned trolleys in this area.

"Waitrose have a system whereby the wheels lock at the exit points. I do not think that any further steps could be taken to stop customers taking the trolley outside this area. Morrison's have a £1 requirement to use the trolley.

"As the inventor of the trolleys lived in Salwarpe I don’t think it appropriate to penalise the Supermarkets."

A spokesperson for Waitrose, which has a branch on Saltway, said: "The wheels on our trolleys magnetically lock if they leave the car park. In the event one was taken, we would retrieve it as soon as we were notified."

Meanwhile Tesco, which has a Tesco Express store in Primsland Way, said: "Our colleagues always try to ensure that our trolleys stay at our stores for the benefit of our customers, but from time to time they do go missing.

"To make sure they come back to as soon as possible and minimise any inconvenience to our neighbours, we work with a company called Trolleywise to collect them as soon as we know one’s gone astray.

"Customers can even notify Tesco and Trolleywise, via the free Trolleywise app, of any abandoned trolleys, to make sure we act swiftly."

At the time of going to press Morrisons, which has branches in Droitwich and Evesham, had not commented on the issue.

Between April and the start of July, Wychavon collected 30 trolleys from watercourses alone, costing the taxpayer about £3,000.

Cllr Emma Stokes, portfolio holder for environment and street scene on Wychavon Council, said: "Initially our aim will be to work with retailers and encourage them to take sensible steps to stop trolleys from being removed in the first place and then to collect them quickly when they are reported as having been abandoned.

"However, if they fail to take responsibility for their property then we will in future have the ability to act and recover our costs without unfairly penalising the council taxpayer."