Shopkeeper claims business is hit

A SHOPKEEPER today claimed his business was being hit badly after parking outside his store was removed to make way for pavement repairs.

Jatin Patel, who runs Grange Stores, a newsagents and grocery in Grange Road, Felixstowe, said he relied on passing trade and motorists were being forced to drive on by.

He is asking Suffolk County Council to compensate him for lost trade - and said he had not been told the work was going to happen.

"The workmen just turned up and shut one side of the road and put in traffic lights," said Mr Patel.

"Now it is just one line of traffic going through with no parking and so no-one can stop.

"This is ruining my business. Most of my customers just park outside, pop in for a newspaper, milk or whatever, on their way home and go.

"They won't park miles away and then walk back here to shop.

"The council is disrupting my business and I think I should be paid compensation for those losses, but I don't expect I will get anything at all."

Mr Patel, who has run the shop for the past two years, said he had received no warning, no letter telling him of the work.

"It would have been nice to have known it was going to happen - though I don't know what I could have done about it. It was just such a shock to see them put up these barriers," he said.

A county council spokeswoman said letters were hand-delivered to all residents and traders affected by the work to inform them of the footway repairs.

The work involved reconstruction of the footways to make them safer, particularly for older people.

"We have ensured that access for pedestrians on the footway and to the shop has been maintained at all times," she said.

Work was due to be completed by today.

n Do you think traders should be paid compensation when roadworks affect their business? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk