Car dealer 'won't make September' as owner blames A41 closure for '£10,000 loss' in two days
A business owner has warned his shop won't make it to September if customers are faced with five more weeks of a 29-mile diversion.
Adrian Slater, the owner of Marsh Lane Car Sales near Hinstock, says that he has already missed out on £10,000 of trade from the closure of the A41.
The road from Forton to Hinstock was closed on Monday to allow for major improvement works.
The full 24-hour closure is expected to be in place through to September 3, with the planned diversion pointing drivers towards the A442 through Cold Hatton and Hortonwood.
Only halfway through the first week, the 58-year-old business owner has said he is concerned his business won't see September.
Mr Slater said: "Our business is being completely shut down by the road closure.
"We had two cars lined up for sale on Monday that were cancelled - that's £10,000 gone. We average between five and 10 car sales a week, we haven't sold a thing this week. We've had no calls since Monday. People just aren't going to do the 29-mile diversion.
"It's not just sales, it's taking hours to get an MOT on one of our cars. I have to pay staff for the journey to an MOT station in Newport which should be 15 minutes and it's taking hours to get there.
"We can't do tyres because the delivery companies aren't bringing them to us, by the time we've driven to collect the tyres it's not worth the cost.
"It's just one thing on top of another, it's a nightmare."
Mr Slater said he had considered closing for the summer, but can't afford to do that either.
"We pay for our advertising in advance, so next month I'll still have around £8,000 of bills to pay even if we're not open. If we close down, it'll be forever."
Telford & Wrekin Council highways teams have said they are continuing to monitor the situation.
A spokesperson said: “This essential work being carried out on the A41 is at the request of residents due to the condition and safety of the road and has been planned for the quietest possible time.
“We are investing more than £1m into much-needed maintenance and work hard to try and minimise disruption to residents and businesses; our team will continue to engage locally to understand what further support can be provided."
On Monday, the first day of closure caused chaos on the back roads as drivers scrambled to find an alternative route.
At 8.20am, the police were called to Sambrook to assist with the volume of traffic after an articulated lorry had become stuck in the narrow country lanes.
By the following day, many of the traffic issues had eased and residents had reported quieter roads.
On Wednesday, Sambrook resident Keith Newton confirmed the situation was generally better, but occasional blocks were still causing traffic to build up in the area.
Several miles of the road are closed until September, to allow for work that includes resurfacing and patching, ironwork reinstatement, drainage improvements, road sweeping, gully cleansing, tree felling, litter picking and improvements to road signs and lines.
The project will see more than 1km of resurfacing, 150m of new drainage, 150 drains cleaned, 30 road signs replaced as well as work on the verges and road sweeping.
