Fears have been raised over children’s safety after a number of young people were seen racing around the streets of Bradford Moor in abandoned shopping trolleys.

Bradford Moor Councillor Mohammed Shafiq (Lab) is urging Morrisons supermarket to tighten-up security of its trolleys after he saw them being used as toys by children on numerous occasions.

Coun Shafiq said he was “extremely concerned for children’s safety” after witnessing children as young as eight using trolleys belonging to the store on Rushton Avenue, Thornbury, to ride around the streets in the Wensleydale Road area.

He said: “I find it quite concerning to see young children coming home from school and the first thing they are doing is playing in abandoned trolleys.

“I have seen them pushing each other down hills at speed and occasionally hitting into things in their path.

“There is also the concern with the major roads nearby. I am genuinely surprised there haven’t been any serious injuries yet.

“I think this is a significant child safety concern. A number of parents living in the area have been in touch with me and are equally concerned.

“There is a park close by to Wensleydale Road and neighbouring streets for the children to play in, which is in the process of being done up and is being painted, but it is still open for them to play in while the work is being done.”

The trolleys have now been collected by Morrisons workers and taken back to the store.

Coun Shafiq is asking the supermarket chain to put measures in place to ensure the trolleys do not leave the premises in the future.

He said: “I am going to speak to Morrisons until something is done to make sure they don’t leave the car park and therefore avoid this problem.”

Store deputy manager Paul Forder said: “We’re grateful to Coun Shafiq for alerting us to the problem. We’ll be raising it with our community support officers to see what more we can do to discourage children taking and playing with trolleys.

“We will also continue to collect trolleys from around the neighbourhood as soon as the public alert us to them.”