Absent parking signs costing jeweller's

7:40am Friday 5th September 2008

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A JEWELLER’S shop in Kidderminster is losing more than £1,000 a week because of a dispute over the removal of parking restriction signs, the owner has claimed.

Since the signs, restricting cars to one hour of parking, were removed from outside Harvey's Jeweller’s, in Comberton Hill, there have been no parking spaces for customers visiting the shop, owner, Annabella Harvey-Lawrence, said.

In May, a Severn Trent Water spokeswoman vowed to look into the apparent removal of the signs and said the company was doing all it could to rectify the situation.

Since then, however, Severn Trent has said its workers did not remove the signs and Worcestershire County Council has denied any involvement but has said it will arrange to have the signs replaced.

Mrs Harvey-Lawrence said: “It needs to be sorted soon, as it has already gone on for too long.

“While all of this has been going on, trade has really dropped. Business has decreased by a third and I’ve worked out I’ve been losing over £1,000 a week.

“Customers that would have normally pulled up in their car and popped in to the shop aren’t doing that any more because there’s nowhere to park.

"People are now parking outside my shop all day long and it's leaving no space for our customers to park.

“Luckily, we are a very popular shop with a set of loyal customers and they are keeping us afloat at the moment. I think a lot of other businesses would have gone under in our position by now.”

She explained she was considering moving the business to the town centre if the problem was not rectified soon, adding: “I don’t know how much more I can take of this.”

A spokeswoman for Worcestershire County Council said: "The county council has not been involved with the removal of the one-hour parking signs on Comberton Hill.

“The traffic regulation order is still live and we have nothing on record that states we have moved the parking signs. As the parking order is still current we will arrange to have the signs replaced."

A Severn Trent spokeswoman said: “Severn Trent Water has spoken to our contractors, Balfour Beatty, who have ensured us that no parking signs were removed by them during our works at Comberton Hill.

“It would not have been necessary to remove these signs to allow them to complete the works. In cases where it is necessary to remove signs, we always endeavour to reinstate them following the completion of the scheme.”