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Closure of road causes Right Price DIY to be 'cut off from the world'

Published: 7 May 2014
Right Price DIY in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, has been left feeling cut off from the rest of the world as repairs to a viaduct have closed the main road passed the store.
Closure of road causes Right Price DIY to be 'cut off from the world'
Repairs to the viaduct on Bath Road began on February 3 and were scheduled to take 12 weeks. According to the store's owner Mark Nixon the road should have reopened on April 28.

But after a period of limited communication from repair firm Hammond, Mr Nixon has been given May 23 as the new date the road will reopen.

Mr Nixon told diyweek.net: "This road closure has cut us off from the rest of the world. It's peak season and we are getting no passing trade. We are the only business on the road and rely on passing trade.

"We are very fortunate that the weather all winter was so bad. Rather than relying on people coming in and spending the odd £7 or £10, the storms have meant that we are getting people coming in and spending £200 or £300 on new fencing.

"If it was any other year I reckon we would be losing £2,000 a week because of the road closure.

"It is a good job we have been here for as long as we have. If we were a young business looking for our share of the market I am sure we would be crippled by the road closure."

Although the road closure doesn't appear to have affected Right Price DIY's trade because of its loyal customer base, Mr Nixon's biggest complaint is the lack of communication.

He claims they were given just four days' notice for the initial road closure and has had limited communication from the repair firm since.

He added: "I am sick to death of explaining to customers that I know nothing about the repair work or the road closure. Nobody has discussed anything with us."

Hammond's project manager for the viaduct repairs, John Martin, told the Shepton Mallet Journal: "The road will be open in another three to four weeks' time and we're going to be here for another six to seven weeks.

"There's additional work on the viaduct that needs to be done.

"We did a letter at the start of the project and have kept in contact with Right Price DIY but the scheme has just run on longer than we anticipated."

Comments

07 May 2014 01:01:00
By Right Price DIY - Suzie
Hammond Ltd have not kept in contact with us at all, except for a letter that gave us 4 days notice before the road closure, and another letter 2 days after the 12 weeks was up to inform us the road was closed for a further 4 weeks.
We have been promised a visit from Hammond Ltd but this never came off. They don't reply to our phone calls either.
Very poor communication.
May I take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers for supporting us and driving out their way to still shop with us.

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