Chapter 162: SHOPPING CARTS
§ 162-1. Definitions.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BUILDING — Any building in the Township of Bristol used by a merchant for the sale of merchandise to the general public.
MERCHANT — Any individual, partnership and/or corporation which owns and operates by himself, herself, itself or by employees and/or agents a business enterprise from a building located in the Township of Bristol and which enterprise at said location caters to and is patronized by the general public.
PREMISES — Any building in the Township of Bristol used by a merchant for the sale of merchandise to the general public, including any off-street parking area abutting the outside of said building.
SHOPPING CART — A wheeled container operable and propelled by one person, designed to carry and/or transport items of purchase offered for sale and/or sold by a merchant to patrons and/or business invitees of said merchant and intended by said merchant to facilitate and/or induce such purchases.
§ 162-2. Removal from merchant’s premises prohibited.
A. At and during all times that any building of any merchant in the Township of Bristol is open for business to the general public, no merchant shall by any act of omission or commission allow, permit, consent, facilitate and/or in any way fail to control and restrict the removal from the premises of said merchant of any shopping cart made available by said merchant to any patron or business invitee of said merchant.
B. At and during all times that any building of any merchant is not open for business to the general public, no shopping cart of any merchant shall be in any way available to any member of the general public for removal from the building of said merchant, and if stored outside the building, such carts shall be chained, fenced or otherwise secured to prevent their removal.
§ 162-3. Identification.
All merchants who make shopping carts available to their patrons shall firmly affix to, and at all times maintain in legible condition on, each of such carts a metal, plastic or similarly suitable identification disk and/or plate which shall identify the respective merchant by the name of the merchant and the address of the building in the Township of Bristol where each such shopping cart is regularly housed and/or stored for the purpose aforesaid, it being further required that if for any reason any such identification on any shopping cart is hereafter removed, missing and/or illegibly defaced, the respective merchant shall remove such shopping cart from availability for use by patrons of such merchant until the same has been properly identified in accordance with the provisions hereunder.
§ 162-4. Carts found off merchant’s premises deemed abandoned.
Any shopping cart of any merchant in the Township of Bristol which is found on any public street, highway and/or ground and/or on any private property, other than in a building thereon and/or the premises of the merchant whose shopping cart it is identified to be, shall be deemed to be abandoned by such merchant and/or any other person responsible for such abandonment.
§ 162-5. Abandonment prohibited.
The abandonment by any person and/or persons, including but not limited to any merchant, of a shopping cart is prohibited, and each shopping cart abandoned shall thereby constitute a single and separate violation hereunder.
§ 162-6. Violations and penalties.
The violation by any person and/or merchant of any provision of this chapter shall make such person and/or merchant subject to prosecution before any District Justice of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, whose jurisdiction includes the Township of Bristol. Such prosecution shall be instituted only and solely on complaint of an official of said Township and/or his or her subordinates; and upon conviction therefor, the person and/or merchant so convicted shall pay a fine of $10 to and for the use of the Township of Bristol and pay the costs of such prosecution, or in default of such payment, suffer imprisonment for not more than three days; provided, however, that any person and/or merchant notified by the Township in writing of any shopping cart in its custody by reason of any abandonment thereof may avoid prosecution therefor by voluntarily paying over to the Township of Bristol within five days from the date of said notice the sum of $10 for each such shopping cart abandoned and shall thereby redeem and forthwith remove from the custody of the Township the respective shopping cart or shopping carts at no cost to the Township. Each day after five days from the date of said written notice that a shopping cart is not redeemed and removed shall be deemed a separate violation of this chapter, which violation shall result in an additional fine of $10 per day.
§ 162-7. Confiscation of abandoned carts.
The Police Department and Public Works Department of Bristol Township, and every employee thereof, are hereby empowered and directed to confiscate any shopping cart found abandoned anywhere within Bristol Township but off the premises of the owner thereof and to deliver same to the Township Building into storage, pending notification to the merchant-owner thereof.
