Aldi trolley scene ignites debate over car park design 'flaw'

Abandoned trolleys in shopping centre car parks have long been the source of frustration for Aussie shoppers, many of whom are forced to dodge them in a bid to save their cars from getting hit.

The solution is simple. Return them to the bay and keep them out of car spaces. But doing the right thing has caused a stir at a newly opened shopping centre in Sydney this week.

Just a couple of weeks after opening, Sutherland Shire locals have highlighted a glaring issue already disrupting shoppers as they navigate the car park at Bay Central in Sydney's south. A photo shows a line of Aldi trolleys chained together in the allocated bay, however, the queue is so long it spills out and blocks half of the road.

A resident snapped the photo and shared on social media as he moaned about the people responsible. "As a species, there really is no future for us. These are returned Aldi trolleys blocking the road. Apparently longer on weekends," he complained.

Debate erupts over who's to blame for trolleys

While he seemingly blamed shoppers for continuing to add trolleys to the already-long line of them "just to get their $1 back", a debate quickly erupted over who was really to blame with many suggesting it's not the shoppers.

"Stupid just stupid", one person agreed. But many argued that a "bad" car park design is to blame, and not the shoppers who are merely doing what's expected by returning their trolleys.

"On the upside it means there have been a lot of lovely considerate people that have returned their trolleys to the correct area," one said. "Yeah not sure who came up with this one," another shared criticising the design.

Aldi staff are responsible, some say

Others thought the fault lies with staff who are employed to clear the trolleys and return them to their retrospective supermarkets — in this case, Aldi.

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"What surprises me is the amount of people in the comments shaming the shoppers who do this when it is clearly either a flaw in the design of the car park or more likely," one said. "Aldi’s fault for not returning their trolleys frequently enough.

"This image perfectly draws attention to the issue that it is Aldi’s responsibility to sort out. Hope it was shared with their store manager as well as posted here."

Shopping centre responds to car park claims

A spokesperson for Bay Central told Yahoo News Australia that Aldi, Dan Murphy’s, and Woolworths — all located in the shopping centre — "are all responsible for the management of their own trolleys". "This includes the collection of them from the car park trolley bays for return to store," they said.

Aldi has five separate trolley bays on the ground floor of the car park where this photo was taken. Each of them able to take between 10-20 correctly stowed trolleys.

"We have brought this to the attention of our major retailers and raised a need to perhaps increase their operations regarding collection," the spokesperson said. "We also encourage customers to look for another bay nearby should the closest to them be full."

The trolley bays typically take up 5.4-6 metres in length on average and can take up to 20 correctly stored trolleys. Trolley bays have been designed in specification with industry and centre standards.

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