Any of theses unintended uses, cost the retailer vast sums of money having to pay to replace and repair units in addition to affecting trade. The environment, however, faces far greater problems. If a trolley finds its way into a water-way it has real potential to cause serious damage to entire ecosystems.

A trolley in a river or canal, over time, can form a very effective dam, collecting passing debris and detritus increases the risk of flooding to the surrounding area. Posed with these problems the Government has introduced this legislation specifically targeting shopping/luggage trolleys. The legislation gives Local Authorities the power to remove and impound trolleys which find themselves abandoned. The owner/retailer can then be charged for the storage and fines can be imposed. This has a huge potential of costing retailers thousands of pounds in charges as well as the capital loss of assets. This being said ITABmk saw over 100% increase in sales of its retention system Radlok. A major retailer installed the system in over 90 stores last year alone and is set to install in the region of 150 systems over next 12 months. Following closely are many of the other major retailers. Several other large retailers, having been customers for many years, are expressing new interest with a view to bring their worst performing stores in line with the new legislation and are looking to buy Radlok as their default retention system, having seen the benefits it holds over competitive systems. Other retailers, who use deposit locks, are also moving towards physical retention methods as pound locks are not seen as customer-friendly.

A deposit lock affects 100% of your customers when only 0.02% of your customer would ever contemplate stealing a trolley. Furtherore, a pound is comparatively low in value to the cost of a taxi or the benefit of not having to carry bags. In many of these cases Radlok is being chosen as the preferred method.

This being said, this year is looking likely to be our biggest year of sales and Radlok is fast becoming the market leader in the UK, if it doesn’t already hold that title. Whilst this trend looks good for the coming years the next generation is already being developed. The new system, 'Kart Cop', allows retailers to lock the wheels at exit points in much the same way as the Radlok, however the Kart Cop will reset its self once it is brought back within the grounds of the store. Perhaps the biggest difference will be its ability to lock if a customer fails to pay for shopping known as "Walk Outs", a growing problem amongst retailers.

With increased sales and new developments we can all be proud that we work for a business positioned as experts in a niche market.

For further information on our Radlok System, please contact Stuart Howell 01908 657366, mobile 07773 790003 or email: stuart.howell@itabuk.com