The simple feature is a game changer for anyone who has ever had to park on an incline or a decline – and if if you’re like writer Alex Evans, a parent who shops for the weekly food shop with a baby in tow
The constant struggle of juggling heavy shopping bags, a baby in the trolley and navigating an uneven car park filled with hefty, pricey 4x4s is all too familiar to many.
It’s a disaster waiting to happen, whether it’s a runaway trolley with your baby inside or a pile of groceries crashing into a Range Rover as soon as you’ve buckled your little one into their car seat and turned your back.
However, writer Alex Evans stumbled upon a hidden feature on many supermarket trolleys designed for just such situations: a foot brake button. While in other similar news, a shopper compared prices of Aldi and M&S essentials and the results amazed her.
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In several Asda branches across Leeds, trolleys are equipped with a metal switch on the right-hand side that can be activated with your foot – a button which instantly immobilises the trolley, regardless of how uneven the ground is or how much heavy shopping you have in the trolley (in Alex’s case, 72 cans of Pepsi Max. It’s his guilty pleasure).
Usually, Alex is forced to wedge the trolley against the car, risking damage to my paintwork, while swiftly transferring his son from the trolley seat to his car seat, all the while trying to prevent the trolley from rolling into a parked vehicle. But after months of performing this balancing act, Alex discovered the small switch underfoot, he told the Express.
Simply press it, and the trolley is rendered immobile. Once you’ve finished loading your shopping, just flick it back up and the trolley is free to move again.
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Also spotting it in Asda, he realised it’s been everywhere all along. The identical switch appears on some Morrisons branches’ trolleys as well. Not everywhere though, it appears quite random which branches feature these hidden buttons and which don’t.
A woman in Australia recently experienced a similar everyday revelation. She shared a video on TikTok in which she declared: “I was 26 years old when I realised Woolworths trolleys have a brake! Please tell me I’m not alone!” Mikhaela revealed in her clip. According to 7News, in Australia the trolleys most likely to feature the secret brake lock button are those located in sloping car parks.
TikTok users suggest that even more supermarket stores should feature them, claiming trolley brakes are a brilliant idea. One comment noted: “Only some shops have them, not all. But I think all trolleys should have them.”