Traders on Sheppey hit out at pre-Christmas gas works

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Transcript

00:00It's killed us basically, I mean the place is like the marriage of less.

00:04To the point where we're between five and six hundred pounds a week down,

00:08which is on the verge that do I close the doors and wait till after the gas works is done?

00:15I've already got staff on short hours and time just to try to make it all work.

00:21You know, it's, don't know which way to turn really.

00:24We were all great with our foot full, we were set for a really good Christmas.

00:29The week before the road work started, we were really starting to step up

00:33as we would have expected to with the stock we'd already purchased for Christmas.

00:38Now the road works has caused a massive issue for us.

00:42In our opinion, obviously I don't work for, you know, people that do these jobs.

00:47But from a point of view as a business, you know, it could have been better managed.

00:52You know, we weren't even notified that this was happening.

00:55If we'd had pre-notification and as far as I know, none of the other businesses on this area were told.

01:01My husband's business next door wasn't told, so I'm guessing none of them were.

01:06Then we could have at least prepared whether our stock was, you know,

01:11whether we needed that amount of stock for Christmas.

01:19The problems with the traffic, nobody's come in.

01:23It's been very quiet.

01:25The fish deliveries are struggling to get to me with the traffic.

01:30They've been late most mornings.

01:32Over a quarter to half of the fish I'm having to freeze or chuck.

01:39So it's had a big impact on my business.

01:41I'm getting a handful of customers a day now, which isn't enough for local businesses to survive.