This week’s council meeting heard how feral trolleys are a problem from Thornton in the east to Rutherford in the west, some councillors calling for fines to be encforced.

A council report said council officers are authorised under the Impounding Act to impound abandoned/unattended shopping trolleys and under the current fees and charges the release fee for each shopping trolley $62.

Cr Meskauskas said the report brought to light the problems the city has, and suggested supermarkets look at a Western Australian system where trolley wheels lock a certain distance from supermarkets.

Cr Philip Penfold said said in Central Maitland Kmart trolleys are everywhere. “Aldi is about to come in and that will mean a second supermarket in the city. This makes Kmart look pretty bad,” Cr Penfold said.

Cr Robert Aitchison said the Thornton area also had a problem . “Maybe we should start hitting the stores in the hip pocket,” he said.