A MOLDGREEN shop owner has offered his sympathies to Birchencliffe traders struggling amid disruptive long term road works.
Businesses along Halifax Road near Ainley Top are already feeling the effects of its 12-week closure for vital gas main repairs.
Only two weeks into the project some traders have already hit out at the the inconvenience, including power cuts, and said their takings were suffering.
Van rental company Shire Link and restaurant Tamanna’s reported an instant drop in trade and the BP petrol station is also thought to be suffering.
But Steve Ward, owner of Blackburns Outdoors on Wakefield Road, has told traders that trying to get compensation will probably be ‘a waste of time’.
Mr Ward, 54, whose business was hit by long-term gas repair works last autumn, said trying to gain support or cooperation from Kirklees Council or the utility contractors would be futile.
He said: “I have sympathy with those poor businesses because we were in exactly the same situation. They say you’ve got to have 28 days continuous disruption before you can make a claim and you’ve got to provide three or four years’ accounts figures to prove any loss.
“You’ve to jump through hoops and you could have gone bust by then.”
