THE BOSS of a furniture company says the closure of a major road in Rugby has cost him thousands in lost business.
Anthony Cole from the Furniture Gallery says his normally-thriving business has been like a ‘ghost town’ since roadworks began on the A4071 Coventry Road in Cawston on Monday (August 15) – and the work is not set to be completed until September 16 at the earliest.
Mr Cole says the situation is far worse than he was originally led to believe it would be by Warwickshire County Council which is carrying out the work.
The store – which usually makes around £12,000 a week – made no sales whatsoever during the first week of the roadworks.
Mr Cole told The Observer: “It’s going to cost us around £40,000-50,000 of business – assuming the work only takes four weeks and doesn’t go over schedule.
“We normally get around 20 people through the door each day during the week, and around 30 at the weekend. But this week we’ve probably only had about four cars come down the drive.
“We were told it would only be closed Monday-Friday 8am to 5pm – as seen on the road signs which appeared two weeks before – but it’s actually closed all day every day, including the weekends.
“We were only given two week’s notice, and no compensation.”
A Warwickshire County Council spokesperson said the road badly needed to be resurfaced.
He said: “The road is impassable to traffic due to the extensive nature of the repairs.
“The works have been scheduled for the summer holidays to minimise disruption, and diversion routes are signposted.”
But Mr Cole added: “It’s good they’re repairing the road, but the problem is the length of time it’s taking – four weeks seems excessive.
“From what I can see, there’s only around four people actually working on the road, and they’re normally gone by about 3.30pm. You’d have thought they would have a bigger team to get it completed more quickly, considering it’s a main artery into Rugby.
“I think it’s a bit of a cheap fix considering they spent all that money on the bypass, which terminates at the roundabout about 200 metres up the road from us. Really, it should have connected up to the A45.”
Visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/roadworksmap for information on the roadworks and diversions.
