Work to install a new Metrobus route across north Bristol looks set to cost people their jobs because of the roadworks affecting business.
The boss of a tyre-fitting company said they have already had to lay off a part-time worker and says the very business itself is under threat, because they have had such a devastating drop in custom since .
Work to prepare the ground for the installation of a new railway bridge over Gypsy Patch Lane in Little Stoke closed the road for a month during June - and now businesses along that road are looking forward with dread to the next lot of works to begin.
Business owners said they have been given short-shrift in their pleas for better signage, and for any kind of compensation or business rate exemptions to make up for the loss of trade they’ve experienced.
During June, Gypsy Patch Lane was closed for a month to allow preparatory work from BT to clear the way for the creation of a new bridge to allow the road to be part of the new Metrobus link between Cribbs Causeway and Bristol Parkway station.
Tom Oakley, who is the operations manager for Tyres Direct UK, said he has calculated their sales were down £17,000 for what they would normally expect for June - and the firm was losing around £700 a day in custom.
He said other businesses suffered similarly, but at a Stakeholders’ Liaison Group meeting, they were told it would be unlikely they would get any kind of compensation.
The SLG group of businesses have now been told work would reconvene in September - with three-way traffic lights - and eventually next Easter, the bridge itself would be replaced.
The prospect of another eight months of disruption, traffic issues and loss of custom is potentially devastating, Mr Oakley said.
“This will hit us hard, all of us,” he said.
“We’re a business that relies on a high footfall - people passing by on their commute. We've almost lost that completely, because people simply couldn’t get to us.
“Even people who knew we were open would get a certain way and then see the ‘road closed’ signs and turn back. It had a huge impact.
“We’ve got 10 members of staff and we’re going to have to lose some if we don’t have financial recompense for this. The process for helping us is not working,” he added.
“I look at what is being proposed now and to me it’s essentially another eight months of work.
“Everyone here is suffering - the Stokers pub, MacColls said they were losing £500 a day in trade during June, £700 a day for us. We’re really concerned, and the reality is that we would shut Patchway and maybe Yate to cope with this as a business, and people will lose their jobs, including me. We don’t know what else we can do,” he added.
“We’ve been thrown around different departments, Metrobus, the council, BT, and got nowhere. I don’t feel confident that something would be in place that will minimise this come September.
“During June we asked for weeks to get better signage, and it wasn’t until near the end of June that they said ‘oh, ok you can put your own signs out’, which wasn’t good enough,” he added.
The work during June was undertaken by Openreach to prepare for the bigger amount of work which will start in September, and culminate in a new bridge and road under the railway line which will be wide enough for Gypsy Patch Lane to be a Metrobus route.
But businesses have been told that the telecoms work was not completed during that June closure, and will be tacked on to the work programme for the autumn.
An Openreach spokesman said: “We'd like to thank the people of the local area for bearing with us ... and we apologise for the traffic delays.”
Bristol Live has contacted Metrobus and South Gloucestershire Council and is awaiting a response.
