A business in Sheffield is still struggling after Archer Road was closed for a week due to a burst water main.
The road closure deterred customers from using the Express Hand Car Wash in Woodseats, which was near the road closure, causing a significant loss of customers.
Director of Express Hand Car Wash Hadi Butimar, said: “I have had to use my own money to pay for the rent, to pay rates, bills and it means I’m losing everything and if things like these continue it could force me to close my business.
“We are worried customers might not return as they find somewhere else, which means we could lose them forever.”
The road closure led to diversions which resulted in bad traffic from Bocking Lane to Woodseats Road. One lady on Facebook described it as ‘bedlam’.
The water main has been fixed and the road has reopened however Mr Butimar said it is still having an impact.
Mr Butimar said: “This is really affecting our business, usually we have 10 staff a day, but we’ve had to cut down to three staff a day, but we are still losing money.
“The staff are upset about it because when they are not working they are not making money and it’s affecting their lives, especially with prices increasing.”
The water is privately supplied and serviced by Yorkshire Water. Compliance officer, John Mccaughey, aged 40 from Woodseats said: “Privatisation really angers me, it’s just a monopoly, they can charge what they like and no one else has a say on it.”
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We’re sorry about the burst main on Archer Road. Our teams attended quickly to carry out a repair on the 1 February, and the road has reopened on Wednesday, February 6.
“We understand how disruptive this can be and would like to thank our customers for bearing with us as our teams worked hard to reinstate the road.”
This incident follows other similar incidents which have caused disruption for the city over the last six months.
A number of cafes were forced to close last November due to a burst pipe in the city centre. Another burst pipe in Southey Green in January forced people to evacuate from their homes due to significant flooding.