Hey stop that shopping cart!

A Vermont mayor has had it with shoppers walking their shopping carts home and leaving them abandoned in the streets.

So Rutland City Mayor David Allaire is cracking down.

Shoppers who walk to Walmart and Price Chopper use carts to bring groceries home. But those carts end up along sidewalks and in the streets. The problem of abandoned carts is facing a growing number of towns across the country.

The two Vermont stores created a security system years ago but that system has broken down.

The Rutland City Board of Aldermen is looking into a new policy that when the city receives a complaint, the store is alerted and given three days to pick up the cart. If not, the city picks it up and the store is fined.

“I went out and took a look and they were all over the place, so I said, OK, one time we’re going to get the Department of Public Works to go out and collect carts. And we picked up 135 in one day," Allaire told WCAX-TV.

"And that’s just an enormous amount of carts in one day," he added. "We dropped them back off in front of the businesses and said 'let’s see if we can try to find a way to address that,'” Allaire said.

The aldermen have not yet set a price tag on the fine but it is being discussed.

Allaire says Price Chopper is willing to work with the city but they have had a tougher time dealing with Walmart.

The mayor said that some people question why he doesn't just fine those taking the carts. But Allaire said local cops don't have time to chase carts and those trying to get groceries home.

He also said it would be hard getting shoppers to pay the fines.