SHOPPERS who have dumped Morrisons trolleys in a local burial site have been branded as “cretinous individuals”.

Trolleys from the supermarket have been blighting areas such as Hill End Garden of Rest, Camp Road and the entrance of Highfield Park.

Alan Cunningham, of Hill End Lane, has taken umbrage at the activity.

He and his family were recently walking though the Hill End Garden of Rest when they noticed four dumped Morrisons trolleys.

This area was formerly the Hill End Hospital Cemetery, where patients and some staff were buried.

The bodies of more than 1,000 people were put in mass graves early last century as patients of two former mental hospitals were only entitled to a pauper’s burial.

Alan said: “As you can imagine [the trolleys] blighted the look of the garden not to mention being disrespectful to those laid to rest there.

“I appreciate that it is not Morrisons themselves dumping these trolleys. It is cretinous individuals who live locally.

“Morrisons need to control and take ownership of this problem by stopping trolleys being removed from the Fleetville store in the first place.

“Before Morrisons in St Albans was refurbished it used to have a system where you had to insert a pound to release a trolley and there was no problem with trolley dumping locally that I observed.”

Alan said that since the supermarket’s recent major refurbishment on Hatfield Road, this system had been removed and “all of a sudden dumped Morrisons trolleys blight our area”.

He has called on the supermarket giant to invest in a system to stop the removal of the trolleys.

Alan pleaded: “Please Morrisons, clean up and then control this mess and stop blighting our neighbourhood.”

Richard Bull, park manager of Highfield Park, said the dumped trolleys created an unwelcome atmosphere at the beauty spot, and there were fears it could encourage anti-social behaviour.

He said many volunteers had worked alongside staff to create the perfect environment for visitors and their efforts were at risk of being marred by such behaviour.

Richard added: “It is totally unacceptable. Some people may not know the full history of the Hill End Garden of Rest, but I think others don’t care. The trolleys are a blot on the landscape.”

Morrisons store general manager Mike Ward said that staff had immediately cleared the trolleys, following a complaint.

Also, the supermarket was in contact with the ground’s caretaker so that if abandoned trolleys were reported, the store could ensure they were swiftly retrieved.

Mike said the store’s pharmacy van driver would now check the grounds three times a week when driving past.

He went on: “We’re aware that abandoned trolleys can be a problem but we do our utmost to collect them as soon as we can.”

St Albans district Councillor for Cunningham Geoff Harrison, who also works at Morrisons, said that trolleys from other supermarkets were also being dumped at “hot spots”.