The roadworks are expected to be in place for eight months
A business owner claims he “doesn’t know” how he’s going to survive as roadworks outside his door are keeping customers away. Siphlan Krishanand, 55, fears he could be forced to close his BP on Priory Road, in Anfield, after roadworks shut the street to traffic, meaning customers aren’t passing through.
The roadworks, which have been put in place by Dowhigh as part of the Liverpool Council’s highways and improvement programme, have shut Priory Road for eight months. However, Mr Krishanand, from Nottingham, fears the worst for his business and his staff.
He told the ECHO: “The council has planned this work and completely shut the road for eight months. It was only three or four weeks ago that they told us. Our sales have completely dropped since they closed the road.
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“We have only been selling 35 litres of fuel a day, we usually would sell 8,000 litres a day. I don’t know what to do about the situation, it’s not fair on us.”
Krishanand claims if he had been made aware of the closure sooner he would have had time to make arrangements to help the business. He said: “We have newspapers and deliveries coming in, we could have cancelled them if we had known sooner. I just think more should have been done to prepare us for this if they knew it would have been closed for eight months.
“There is no footfall that can come through because Priory Road is closed at one end. I don’t know where to go from here, I know the work needed doing but the council should help us. We have a mortgage to pay, bills, electric bills, if it was a one month job then fair enough but after eight months how long will it take to get the customers back?
“Our staff wages alone cost more than £10,000 a month, then we have the bills and mortgage to pay on top of that. I don’t know how we are going to survive, I’m so stressed, it’s killing the business.
“They have completely closed the road, no traffic at all can get down, it’s a dead end. Customers would usually come for their milk, bread, newspapers but because the road is closed people aren’t coming.”
Mr Krishanand claims he is “worried” for the future of his business and says he “fears” for his staff and their families. He said: “It’s frustrating and how can I pay the staff without an income? I fear we could lose the business and have a major effect on all my finances.
“I have a family I have to provide for, I have some staff who have worked there for 15 years, my staff and manager all have families too, my employees are being affected. I don’t know how we’re expected to survive. My staff could potentially lose their jobs over it, it’s not their fault.”
Mr Krishanand bought the BP in 2019 from the now manager of the garage, Chris Wolfenden, 55, who was forced to sell it as covid hit. Chris now fears he could lose his job and won’t be able to provide for his family. He said: “I’m concerned over it potentially closing over the drop off from business. It’s crazy, it’s gone from hundreds of customers a day to next to no customers at all. The shop sales have halved in the last week and fuel sales are a third of what we normally have.
“It’s been in our family for years, I sold it in 2019 to Siphlan Krishanand. I have a family too, it’s a massive concern. It’s my livelihood that I provide for my family.”
The roadworks on Priory Road started on October 21 between the junctions of Utting Avenue and Walton Lane and will remain in place for approximately eight months, until the end of June 2025, while a new drainage system, new pedestrian crossing near the crematorium, new footways and carriageway reconstructions are put in place.
During works, Priory Road will be fully closed between Monday to Friday, excluding for services to the crematorium and emergency access. Diversions are in place while the work is ongoing, it will be completed in four phases.
A spokesperson for Liverpool Council said: “The Council and the scheme’s contractor have been working tirelessly to ensure access and communication to the business(es) to alleviate any issues they may have.
“The aim is to deliver the Priory Road scheme as quickly, safely and efficiently as possible for all parties, with as little disruption as possible. However some disruption is inevitable and we are attempting to mitigate that as much as possible through a number of measures.”
