Swap cops a spray in nozzles shemozzle
The Sunday Age
Sunday April 4, 2010
GARDEN centres around Melbourne are accusing the state government of stinginess, after they ran out of water-saving nozzles in the first hours of a new nozzle exchange program.The manager of Poyntons nursery at Essendon, Andrew Jones, said the shop was "inundated" yesterday with people wanting to exchange their nozzles, but that many of his customers would miss out.Owner of Chris and Marie's Plant Farm, Chris Lucas said people were queueing for nozzles when he opened yesterday, and stock ran out in less than an hour.Premier John Brumby announced the initiative to swap old twist nozzles for water-saving trigger nozzles as "a great opportunity for people who don't have a trigger nozzle".But Mr Lucas said: "You've got more than 4 million people in Victoria, how can you satisfy them with 14,000 nozzles? It's more like a public relations job."Other nursery owners said the stock was poorly made. Northcote Nursery owner Lorraine Richards said: "It's rubbish. It's not good quality. It's just really cheap."Yarra Valley Water's Pat McCafferty said the nozzles "were some older stock that has been picked up . . . at a very cheap price."[The nozzles] are fairly inexpensive, so if customers are unable to get a free one, you can usually get [them] for under $10."
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