Background to the Invention At present, shopping can become very tedious and sometimes even impossible for persons having some form of reduced mobility, be it due to age, injury, permanent physical disability or other factors. It is often very difficult for such persons to do their shopping as this usually involves a lot of walking, in addition to which it may involve having to push a heavy shopping trolley for far distances.

The applicants therefore believe that a need exists for a device which will make it easier and more convenient for people having reduced mobility to do their shopping.

Summary of the Invention Thus, according to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a shopping trolley including :- a base structure mounted on wheels ; a seating arrangement for a user arranged on the base structure; a stowage means arranged on the base structure for stowing shopping items; a motor arranged in mechanical communication with a wheel of the trolley ; and

a steering means for steering the trolley in use.

The shopping trolley may include two motors, each motor being arranged in mechanical communication with a wheel of the trolley.

A bump guard of any suitable resiliently deformable material may be arranged around a perimeter of the base structure to reduce the likelihood of damage to a part of the shopping trolley in the event of a collision.

The seating arrangement may include a seat portion and a housing portion, the seat portion being mounted on the housing portion. The seat portion may be pivotally mounted on the housing portion. The seating arrangement may further include a backrest.

The location of the stowage means relative to the seating arrangement may be configured to accommodate a user's legs in a space defined therebetween.

The stowage means may be in the form of a basket that may be sufficiently large to receive a number of items purchased during shopping.

The base structure, seating and stowage means may be manufactured from any suitable durable synthetic plastics material such as, for example, glass fibre or fibre glass.

The motor may be any suitable motor and is typically an electric motor having a battery power supply. The battery may be rechargeable. The battery may be housed within the housing below the seat portion.

A shopping trolley as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the shopping trolley is provided with two motors, each motor being connected to one of two rear wheels of the trolley.

Where the shopping trolley is provided with two motors, each motor may be drivingly connected to an axle of one of the two rear wheels respectively.

The motors may be mounted on an underside of the base structure proximal the rear wheels.

The steering means may be in the form of a joystick. The joystick may be located near an end of the stowage means closest to the seating arrangement.

The joystick may be electrically connected to the motor or motors.

In use, movement of the joystick to the left or right causes the wheels of the shopping trolley to which the joystick is connected via the motor or motors to turn to the left or right respectively, thereby enabling a user to control the direction of motion of the shopping trolley.

The joystick may further include a control means for controlling the speed at which the shopping trolley travels. Pushing the joystick away from the user may cause the trolley to move forward and accelerate whilst pulling the joystick toward the user may cause the trolley to move backwards.

The shopping trolley. may include a switch for activating and deactivating the power supply, thereby activating and deactivating the joystick.

The switch is typically located on the joystick.

The shopping trolley may further include a support means in the form of a bar attached to and the end of the stowage means closest to the seating arrangement.

In use, a user may hold onto the bar with one hand so as to not lose his or her balance whilst the trolley is in motion.

Detailed Description of the Invention The invention will now be described by the following non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows a side view of a shopping trolley in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 2 shows a plan view of the shopping trolley of Figure 1.

In the drawings, reference numeral 10 generally indicates a shopping trolley in accordance with the present invention.

A shopping trolley 10 includes a base structure 12 mounted on wheels 14. 1 and 14.2, a seating arrangement 16 for a user (not shown) arranged on the base structure 12, a stowage means in the form of a basket 18 arranged on the base structure 12 for stowing shopping items (not shown), at least one motor 20 arranged in mechanical communication with at least two of the wheels 14.1 and 14.2 of the trolley 10 and a steering means in the form of a joystick 22 for steering the trolley 10 in use.

The shopping trolley 10 typically includes two motors 20, each motor 20 being connected to one of two rear wheels 14.1 of the trolley 10 located beneath the seat portion 26. The motors 20 are drivingly connected to an axle of each wheel 14.1. The motors 20 are mounted on an underside of the base structure 12 proximal the rear wheels 14.1 as shown in Figure 1 and each motor 20 typically has a power output of 16 Ampere.

A bump guard 24 of any suitable resiliently deformable material is arranged around a perimeter of the base structure 12 to reduce the likelihood of damage to a part of the shopping trolley 10 in the event of a collision.

The seating arrangement 16 includes a seat portion 26 and a housing portion 28, the seat portion 26 being pivotally mounted on the housing portion 28. The seating arrangement 16 further includes a backrest 30.

The location of the basket 18 relative to the seating arrangement 16 is configured to accommodate a user's legs (not shown) in a space 31 defined therebetween.

The base structure 12, seating arrangement 16 and basket 18 are typically manufactured from glass fibre.

The length"I"of the trolley 10 is typically 12 000 mm, its width"w"is typically 6 000 mm and its height"h"is typically 10 000 mm.

The motors 20 are typically electric motors having a battery 32 power supply. The battery 32 is rechargeable. The battery 32 is housed within the housing 28 below the seat portion 26. The battery 32 is typically recharged by connecting it to a conventional power supply such as, for example a plug or any other suitable power supply. The power supplied by the battery 32 is typically between 11 V and 13,5 V, preferably 12 V.

As can be seen in Figure 1, the battery 32 does not take up all available space in the housing 28. The housing 28 may optionally include a dividing wall (not shown) to divide the housing 28 into two portions, one of which contains the battery 32 whilst the second portion can be used by a user for stowing away his or her personal belongings during use of the trolley 10.

The joystick 22 is located near an end of the basket 18 closest to the seating arrangement 16 so that it may be easily accessed by a user seated on the seating portion 26.

The joystick 22 is electrically connected to the motors 20 of the