Car damage caused by abandoned shopping trolley
I had not even exited my car when it was hit by the infamous abandoned shopping trolley in windy weather whilst at the supermarket this weekend. When I got out and had a look the damage was quite bad, more than a little scrape. At the time there was no Trolley Assistant in the vicinity and when questioned about why, I was told that he was on a break.
As expected, I have had no joy from Tesco when I complained about the damage their shopping trolley caused to my car and will have to repair the work myself or via my insurance company.
After searching through the websites it seems the Tesco Trolley is rating quite high in the 'Supermarket Shopping Trolley Car Damage Pole'. This alone would make me question why Tesco have not introduced the more sensible £1 return trolley system across all branches of the supermarket.
I understand that some members of the public are just lazy. Something like this should ensure that they return their shopping trolley after use, but on the other hand, I feel that a supermarket should be ensuring the safety of not only their customers, but their cars too.
If this abandoned shopping trolley, which coincidentally, hit my car in high winds, had hit my son or anyone for that matter, then is Tesco still not liable for an injury sustained from one of their trolleys? If someones car had rolled into my car in Tesco, then are they not liable for the damage to my car? Would we not exchanged insurance details? Surely when a supermarket gives access to the pubic then the road becomes a "public road" and falls under Road Traffic Law? Also, surely the trolley attendants should be more vigilant during windy weather and take steps to prevent them from careering around the car park causing damage?
I ask you, is this a lost cause or should I pursue for some form of compensation?
By: Joanne
Comments from visitors
Now after using Tesco Rugby for 25+ years, shop at Sainsburys. Cost me £350 to sort out,
Tip for the future,
Find a place away from the trolley storage and at the top of an incline.
So how can a car park which is open to the public every day be any different to a farmers field open for two days in the year?????
By now, another shopper with a young child heard my "choice" words and asked if I could watch my language, and to be fair, I should have. But then the drivers wife walks over and tells me it wasn't her husband that damaged my bike, so I shouldn't be getting angry at him, tells me she works for the police and that I should f**k off.
So, here I am, my bike is damaged by a driver like this guy and uses a shopping trolley (motorbike riders rarely use a shopping trolley so I assume it wasn't one of them). And I have a shopper (another car driver and potential suspect no doubt) with a kid shouting at me, and the wife of the guy I asked not to leave trolleys where the motorbikes are parked shouting at me.
Who's the bad guy here? Well apparently me, because I'm angry that my bike has been damaged and I "dared" to prevent it from happening again.
What kind of f**ked up world do we live in?
A couple of weeks ago, mike motorbike exhaust was damaged by a trolley left in the motorcycle parking section of Sainsburys.
Today, I see a car driver move a trolley from a car parking space and push it into the motorcycle parking space.
I tell him this isn't a trolley park, it's for motorbikes and trolleys left here can damage the bikes, and show him the dent in my exhaust. He says, it wasn't me that damaged your bike and shrugged his shoulders as if he just didn't care.
This really p*sses me off, because I have to pay for the damaged to my Italian sports bike which isn't cheap or else it comes out of my insurance, either way I lose. Now, I know he didn't do it, but it's people like him that are the causality of the damage to my bike. So I let him know how annoyed I am with a few "choice" words, and tell him to use a bit of common sense in the future and put the trolley somewhere else where it wont damage the motorbikes. To which he replied, "it's not my trolley and it was blocking the parking space" WTF!!!??? He's just moved the trolley from the space where he wanted to park his car and put it in between the motorbikes, and he doesn't understand why he's making me more and more angry.
What is it with pushchairs these days anway , they are massive great things with a tiny kid lost in the middle among all the parcels and shopping bags.
trolley rage is a thing of the future,
Grumpy from Luton - 14-Jul-10 09:59
Kids then use the trolleys as a means of transportation.
I can't see these two schoolgirls being able to pay for the damage they caused and, if Tesco's car park is classed as private property, presumably the insurance company won't be interested either. Thinking about it now, the car park at thios particular store seems really silly, with a busy exit where queueing traffic seems to build up very quickly, a narrow kerb and the car park itself is on a bit of a slope. Even though the damage seems to have been caused by the carelessness of individuals, I wonder if it's worth pursuing the matter with Tesco. I too am a loyal Tesco shopper and buy 99% of my groceries there, Any advice would be gratefully received.
Meanwhile, I am pursuing this further - and I hope you do as well.





