Off their trolley

TESCO have been championing the reduction in the use of plastic shopping bags and even award extra green Clubcard points for using existing bags. For the past six or seven years, we have benefited also from the one-off purchase and use of Tesco s own

TESCO have been championing the reduction in the use of plastic shopping bags and even award extra "green" Clubcard points for using existing bags.

For the past six or seven years, we have benefited also from the one-off purchase and use of Tesco's own brand blue plastic boxes, six of which fit directly on specially designed trolleys at the store and allow ease of packing/transport into the boot of a car.

They also eliminate the need for any extra plastic bags.

Imagine our surprise, therefore, to find that the "blue-box" trolleys have been removed and all trolleys replaced by new versions equipped with magnetic wheel fittings to cope with the newly-installed escalator ramp to the new first floor.

Unfortunately, none of the new trolleys are big enough to take blue boxes.

This means that more plastic bags are required to contain the varying shopping items, totally defeating the claimed Tesco move to reduce their use.

Customer services were unable to explain why no advance warning was given and, sadly, were able only to quote the modern approach to what nowadays passes for "service" - that it was head office policy to change all of the trolleys and that, anyway, few people now used the blue boxes.

It is appreciated that all trolleys had to be fitted with wheel locks for the new travelator, but surely it would have been a less costly exercise merely to fit new wheels to existing trolleys rather than replace all of them.

I suspect that many users will take their custom elsewhere, but local management will no doubt take as much interest as they always seem to do - nil.

BERNARD MARTIN, Feoffees Road, Somersham