Friday, March 29Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Trollied: an Egham Pandemic

We’ve all made the painful mistake of buying too much food shopping when we’ve been to Tescos…then we visit the alcohol aisle. 1 litre of Bacardi is on offer and next thing you know you need big bottles of mixers – got to have enough for the house prinks – and your trolley is very full and very heavy. How will you carry all of this home? Even between two or three of you it’s a struggle that your workouts at the gym don’t seem to be helping. So why not just wheel the trolley home with you? It was your pound that unlocked it and therefore you may as well get adequate use from it, right? Well, there’s a reason or two why taking the trolley home with you is not the most sensible idea.

Are you really going to bring that trolley back to Tescos when you’re done with it? No, you’ll probably dump it somewhere and hope that Tesco somehow realises and comes to collect their good. Who really cares about the pound once you have your shopping home after all. We’ve all done it, or contemplated doing it, but recently there have been a number of complaints of trolley build ups around Royal Holloway and in the Egham residential area.

The issue has been reported by a number of Egham residents, many having lived in the town longer than some of us have been alive. Residents put up with our occasionally excessive noise as university students, but they should not, they argue, have to put up with being unable to get into their houses because of a build up of trolleys outside their front door.

Speaking to Get Surrey Karen Andrews, 45, reported that so many trolleys had built up outside of her house that “I couldn’t get round to my house because they were in the middle of the road”. Some however have argued that students are being used as scapegoats in the trolley build up saga around Egham. It is not simply the fault of students, residents have also complained to Tesco and Runnymede Council to try and get trolleys collected and brought back to the store; it is legally Tescos responsibility to reclaim any stolen trolleys.

The College is now requesting that students return any misplaced trolleys, and if they are causing you a problem then you can get in contact with the college at [email protected] or on 01784 276612 or 443394.