Goodness me - how did we all cope pre parent & toddler parking in the days when we all had to actually cope with carrying children AND fetch & return our own trolleys!

It's not convenient to have them left next to the car parking bay if you happen to be the person trying to negotiate by them with another trolley, child in pushchair - or wheelchair perhaps. And it's certainly not convenient if you're the owner of the car that gets hit by a loose one - doesn't have to be windy for that to happen.

I agree with a lot of the more general comments here about Tesco - used to shop there regularly until about 18 months ago but started to loathe the experience more and more - felt stressed or annoyed about something or other each time I went. and then I discovered Waitrose .......... oh joy! Barely a pair of leggings or overweight person in sight - and we all manage to collect and return our own trolleys.

To make my life easier, making me more chilled and less likely to complain, I am just going to use the parent spaces myself.

Exactly the point we were making.

You know I didn't mean that. **Yawn.....**

Wow, the 2:2 really came in handy for that, his parents must be so proud after spending thousands sending him to uni.

Back in the day, I was a professional "Personal Food Transporting Device Retrieval Specialist" aka a Trolley Wally (albeit for Sainsburys not Tesco). Hey, Clearasil and White Lightening wasn't free you know!

Other than those trolleys whose wheels had their own subconcious (all 4 of them with different beliefs with regards to direction), the most irritating thing about my job was picking up all the strays. I never understood why people couldn't walk a trolley 10 seconds (at most 15 seconds) to the nearest bay - still don't.

And I'm sure individually everyone has a reason why they leave the trolley in the nearest spot convenient for them, but when it becomes 10, 20 or more and you have trolleys everywhere, it gets tedious. A single act is maybe not a problem but its the cumulative effect (whether dropping a Flake wrapper or leaving a trolley 'unparked') that becomes anti social.

Anytime you can't pull your car in all the way because a trolley is stuck out half into the spot, tedium increases. When the same trolley bashes your shiny paintwork, more tedious still and crossing into the territory of annoying.

If everyone took an extra 10 seconds to do something so small, the world would be a better (and indeed tidier) place.

Maybe they can install rising bollards within feet of the door allowing only proven trolley parkers past

I think the correct parlance is a Desmond.

I have heard this from a number of people lately. While Waitrose is more expensive, it seems they make an effort to make the shopping experience a good one.

Also I've heard that it is impossible to wheel your trolley past the entry road as the wheels lock if anyone attempts to do so.

Do you think that anyone shopping in Waitrose will be, 1) Pushing the trolly by themselves and 2) Walking home?

Well, Waitrose might be all set for a change - I notice they are introducing a budget range of good. A sign of the times?

These things are relative and I would imagine that their budget range might be different than that from other more 'accessible' supermarkets!

I've never been to the Newbury one, but I have been to the one in Thatcham, who's location seems to me, to be a bit unexpected!

Don't forget that if you shop at Waitrose, you can apply for a Partnership card. This allows you to use the hand-held scanners. You can then whizz round scanning as you go and use the quick checkout machine at the end. Ideal if there are queues at the normal checkouts. Plus you get points (double in Waitrose or John Lewis) which are redeemed as money vouchers at regular intervals (100 points = £1). I use mine for all my purchases (big or small - even when I shop at Sainsbury's ) and it soon mounts up.

Mind you, it is a credit card, so you have to pay it off in full each month or you start paying massive interest (which sort of defeats the object of getting the points!).

just get a tesco clubcard & a tesco credit card instead.

But then you have to shop at Tesco! And last time I was there, they didn't have hand-held scanners, which was the main point of my post. I know they have self-scan checkouts, but that's hardly the same thing. And what does a Tesco credit card do for you?

Back to the original topic, walked there last night. (i walk round the back to get there, ie past the staff entrance at the rear of the shop) and i walked through the parent and child bit. 36 trolleys left out on the pavement, i am glad i walked solo and not with our double buggy! went in and complained (AGAIN) and the lady said she would get it sorted out, which is great, but i said, it is like that every day. something long term needs to be done.

So, the more people that complain about this, the more likely Tesco are to listen and do something about it!! if you agree with me, do us all a favour and complain to customer services.

that is all.

Tesco credit card = point on any purchase, in addition to those you get with your clubcard. So by paying for your shopping with a Tesco Credit card & using a club card you get triple points.

Waitrose is a terrible shop, the staff are snooty, there is a limited range, and it's about 33% more for most things. If I thought the place looked much better that would be something but I think Sainsbury's is as nice. Good parking though (in Newbury).

Interesting, I know no one that doesn't prefer shopping there. Several in fact say how refreshing it is to be served by people that appear interested in selling you something. Perhaps they just don't want to encourage skinflints like Strafin from shopping there!

That's your opinion. I've never found the staff to be anything other than helpful (and cheerful). As for range, the floor space is a lot less than Sainsbury's or Tesco's, so they wouldn't have room for the same range. However, you can get stuff there that you can't get elsewhere. And I've not done a price check, but where does your 33% come from?