Sussex shopper’s concerns over coronavirus contamination of supermarket trolleys

Bob Brunning was on a trip to Tesco at Broadbridge Heath near Horsham on Saturday when he collected a trolley from a stack leading to the store entrance.

“At this point none of the trollies had been disinfected, so we were handling a possibly dangerously-infected trolley which could easily pass the virus on to us,” he said.

“It was not until we reached the entrance that a member of staff sanitised the trolley handles before we entered the store.”

He said he felt there could have been a chance for him to “inadvertently pass on any virus to other shoppers by touching objects in the store.

“So, not only could we become ill but so could many others.”

He said he was told by staff that it was Tesco policy to only disinfect trolleys at the entrance.

“Surely, the time to sanitise the trolleys is when they have been recovered and placed in their lines such that customers have no chance of picking up the virus before entering the store,” he said.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “Customers can collect a trolley at the entrance to our Horsham Exrta store, where we have colleagues sanitising the trolleys and offering hand sanitiser to those entering the store.”

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