And now I've seen it all ...

[Mark]

Then we'll need a warning light to tell us the warning light is not working ;-)

[polygonum]

:-) indeed!

On the other hand, the wheelchair symbol can be *very* misleading. There are plenty of people who appear perfectly able to stand and walk (and therefore do not need wheelchairs) but do need to use bays for disabled.

[John Williamson]

Even the trolley renters employ a trolley rounder-upper or two, to put the trolleys back where they're wanted. People tend to pick them up from the pen nearest to the shop entrance and drop them off at the pen nearest to their car. At our local Morrisons, the guy does a steady wander round during the whole of his shift doing that and picking up litter from where people have stripped the outside packing off the multipacks before loading them into their car.

[charles]

so does our nearest Sainsburys.

[Tim Streater]

Thass my point: all cases obey Mr Ohm at all times. That and the fact that it's "sudden" only because my application of the volts is "sudden"

- the device is switched on, I'm not gently turning up the knob on a Variac.

[Dave Liquorice]

My father would use a wheelchair...

[charles]

there used to be a sign on the London Underground escalators which read "Dogs must be carried". What did you do if you didn't have a dog with you? Would someone hire you one?

[Mark]

It's a shame these stores don't have some consistency. At least you'd know what to expect.

[polygonum]

A bit more consistent than most things in this world! A binary choice of "needs pound coin" or "does not need pound coin" covers every supermarket/trolley combo I can think of. :-)

Including the ones where some trolleys at an individual supermarket need a coin and others do not.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Accident damage? Body shops may fit a new unit, but not set the beam correctly. Motorised units where one has failed. And wouldn't the bus have the bulb replaced by a pro?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'm mainly referring to town use, since I live in London.

[usenet2012]

In message , Mark writes

Don't they just lock the wheels as you go over an activating pad? (I can't see them fitting some sort of proximity device to activate the locks.) If you were serious about borrowing one you could simply lift the locking wheels over.

[usenet2012]

At our local Sainsbury's the guy who returns the parked trolleys to the front of store uses a metal knife to push the connecting pins out. I've never been tempted to try the technique, partly due to never having found a need to carry such a knife in public and partly due to the quantity of fellow shoppers and CCTVs.

[dennis]

They make special tools to do that, are you sure its a knife?

[Mark]

I guess they rely on people not bothering to do this.

[Tim Streater]

Aren't the wheels still locked if you do this? And how does that system work, anyway?

[Mark]

I haven't tried this.

I assume it uses magnets but I haven't examined them in detail.

[John Williamson]

Magnets in the plate in the exits, attracts locking mechanism in wheel assembly. Released by using special tool.

They can be defeated by lifting the trolley over the plate as suggested as the range is only an inch or so. OTOH, have you ever tried to lift a trolley containing the average "big shop" and carrying it a couple of yards?

[tim.....]

I raise you a Tesco!

tim

[tim.....]

But they won't have a badge will they?

My father needed to use one of these bays as he couldn't get out of the car unless the door was fully open, which is something that you can rarely do in a normal space

But is a pass available for this?