Canada Bay Council has Rhodes trolley thieves on the radar with threats of hefty $500 fine

LIKE a scene from a western starring John Wayne chasing cattle rustlers, council workers are planning a blitz on the Rhodes Peninsula in a bid to catch trolley bandits in the act.

LIKE a scene from a western starring John Wayne chasing cattle rustlers, council workers are planning a blitz on the Rhodes Peninsula in a bid to catch trolley bandits in the act.

Fed up at the sight of scores of abandoned carriers littering local streets, Canada Bay Council has given rangers the power to hit trolley-rustling shoppers with a minimum $500 fine.

It marks an escalation in the trolley wars from a period of “community education” last week to hard-line enforcement.

The council has not revealed how many shoppers have been caught in the crackdown so far.

But Mayor Helen McCaffrey defended the tactic, saying she hopes fines will deter shoppers dumping trolleys in parks, waterways and streets.

“Our biggest problem seems to be people who take their groceries in trolleys inside their units and then just abandon them,” Cr McCaffrey said. “It makes Rhodes look like a trolley yard.

“We have asked all the supermarkets to try to ensure they collect their trolleys. Some have made the effort and some have not.

“At the end of the day, people taking the trolleys have the responsibility to return them. It comes down to laziness.”

Some retailers within the Waterside Shopping Centre have installed devices including wheel locks and barriers to stop trolleys leaving the centre.

But resident Andrew Ferguson said the measures had failed to deter culprits.

“Six months after they introduced them the locks got broken by residents dragging the trolleys along the footpath,” he said.

Mr Ferguson said signs warning about the fines had also proved futile.

“The majority of residents don’t know it’s unlawful because the fines have never been imposed,” he said.

“Hopefully the message will now get through.”

Mr Ferguson said trolley collection was also an area for improvement — with much of the work currently left to volunteers at the Korean church at Rhodes.

A council spokeswoman encouraged residents to report trolleys found on the streets to Rhodes Waterside on 8754 1111.