BOSSES at a Kidderm-inster superstore have been forced to pull abandoned shopping trolleys worth nearly £5,000 out of a nearby canal. Just a few of the shopping trolleys ditched into the canal near Sainsbury's.

Six members of the management team at the Sainsbury's store at Carpet Trades Way spent about three-and-a-half hours dragging 45 trolleys out of a half-mile stretch of the Staffordshire and Worcester-shire Canal with a tow rope.

The trolleys had been submerged but became visible when the canal was partially drained for repairs - horrifying passers-by.

The Shuttle/Times & News is preparing for a joint assault on litter, grime and shabbiness across Wyre Forest in a joint initiative with the district council - and Wyre Forest folk have responded keenly since we highlighted the problem last year.

Roni Solomons, of Manor Avenue, Kidderminster, contacted us, saying she was "disgusted" at the sight of the canal - and urged Sainsbury's to consider methods of preventing trolleys from leaving the store.

But duty manager Eddie Gardener, who was part of the team which dragged the dumped trolleys from the water last week, said there were no plans to deter dumpers by installing a trolley-dispensing system which requires a coin deposit.

He said: "That system is mainly used in city centres where stores don't have their own car parks.

"We have metal grilles at the exit areas to our car park which grip trolley wheels and stop the larger ones being taken away."

He said the trolleys pulled out of the canal were from the store's smaller trolley fleet - and that due to their size it is possible to lift them over the barriers around the car park.

They cost £100 each to replace - and the haul from the canal included two trolleys designed for the disabled, worth £200 each.

Mr Gardener said there were also several bicycles dumped in the canal and the nearby River Stour.

"We're aware of the problem and will replace the trolleys.

"But if people are determined to get the smaller trolleys away from the store then they will," he added.