A RESTAURANT worker says trade was ‘horrendous’ while water works took place outside his eatery, which he claims he was not informed of before the work began.

Mazedul Shakil, from Balti Mahal in Astwood Road, said the traffic was ‘absolutely appalling’ due to the works.

Mr Shakil, aged 26 said: “It was awful. To come from town to the restaurant it took a good 30 minutes when it usually takes three to five minutes.”

The water works was carried out in Astwood Road from Monday (June 10) to Thursday (June 13).

Mr Shakil said customers were complaining about deliveries being late and food being cold. He alleges that there was no signage about the works beforehand and resulted in the business losing trade.

He added: “It wasn’t fair on customers. It’s not nice to see customers unhappy. It affected the restaurant - this week has been horrendous in terms of trade.

“Customers were complaining about how long it took them to drive to the restaurant and the trouble they had with parking. It literally took me 15 minutes one day to get out of the carpark.”

There were two temporarily traffic lights placed, one next to Balti Mahal and the other one was after the Premier Rainbow Hill Store.

Mr Shakil said: “It was ridiculous. There should have been a clear sign warning drivers and informing us when the works will start and finish. If we had known, we could have pre-planned.

“At the end of the day if work needs to be done it needs to be done. But there should be some compassion towards businesses.”

A member of staff from Rainbow Hill Premier, who didn’t want to be named, said: “We were not informed on the works. A big portion of the road was blocked off. It made such a difference to our trade.”

A spokesperson from Severn Trent said: “We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience that was caused by our work on Astwood Road this week. It was an emergency job and as such we didn’t have a chance to inform local people in advance. We would normally talk to people about any planned work so that everyone knows what’s happening and can prepare for it. But in this case, as it was an emergency we just had to jump in and get it done.”

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