Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre introduces fast and slow walking lanes

Get out the way! The trial was prompted by a letter from a 10-year-old shopper who was 'incredibly disappointed' after being held up by sluggish movers

It’s one of the things that make many people hate heading to shopping centres on a busy weekends - slow moving people that you just can’t find a way to take over.

One young shopper, 10-year-old Chloe Nash-Lowe, had finally had enough of the zombie-like shufflings of her fellow consumer; so she decided to write her local shopping centre a letter about the problem, explaining that she is “incredibly disappointed” by the number of slow walkers.

“It annoys me so much I want to scream,” she added. “People are in a rush for work and this can cause people being late. It is dangerous because if someone bumped into you the person that is slow will fall over.”

Sensing the PR opportunity, Meadowhall Shopping Centre were quick to respond - by opening a slightly genius fast and slow walker’s lane.

"I want to thank Chloe for taking the time to write in and share her views with us – we love to hear feedback from our younger shoppers," shopping centre director Darren Pearce said.

"The Meadowhall team liked Chloe’s idea so much that we have decided to trial an overtaking lane for fast walkers on the malls - helping them to get where they want to be on time."

Let’s just hope the British public is better at adopting walking lanes than it is at using driving lanes properly.