East Lancashire snow: Business winners and losers (From Lancashire Telegraph)

East Lancashire snow: Business winners and losers

5:00pm Friday 8th January 2010 in News By Chris Hopper, Reporter

THE snow chaos could cost businesses milliions of pounds as shoppers and workers stayed at home - but the weather has boosted trade for some retailers.

Many shops said the big freeze had hit trade due to the 'horrendous' state of pavements.

Chamber of Trades from across East Lancashire said they did not expect councils to clear pavements and car parks with shovels, or the local authorities would be liable if people tripped and injured themselves.

But they said they did believe more grit should be spread on pavements.

Both Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen councils have focused all their attentions on main roads, in a bid to prolong rock salt stocks.

Gail Usher, of Barnoldswick Chamber of Trade, runs House of Flowers, in Frank Street.

She said: "It would not have been as bad if the roads had been cleared but Barnoldswick lost out because it is not a priority axccording to Lancashire County Council.

"Pendle Council did send a troop of men out to clear the pavement but people are not going out because the car parks are not clear."

Davd Cottam, the president of Blackburn Chamber of Trade, said: "The state of the pavements is absolutely shocking. But you have got to weigh up what sort of resources the council has got to do anything about it.

"We can complain all we like but we only get it like this now and again so we just have to grin and bear it."

"Also, if you clear your pavement and someone slips on it, you are liable. So you have to be very careful about that."

Denise Gee, chair of the Darwen Chamber of Trade, said: "The town is quiet, but this level of snow and ice is unprecendented, and as traders there is nothing we can do but wait for the weather to change."

Butcher George Heys, the president of Burnley's Chamber of Trade, said: "I think a lot more people are using their local shops rather than venturing into town.

"The pavements have received hardly any treatment and they are quite dangerous."

Rossendale Chamber of Commerce paid tribute to the efforts made by the county council to grit the roads throughout Rossendale.

Tony Garner, president of the group, said: "In my experience these are clearly freak conditions and while it would be very easy to jump on a bandwagon we would like to think that every effort is being made to keep our roads, pavements and town centres clear."

Boundary Mill in Colne. has stayed open all week but fewer shoppers have passed through the doors.

Jill Laws, assistant to the chairman, said: "When the sales started on Boxing Day the first week was choc-a-block. It has been considerably quieter since then. The snow has had a drastic effect."

In Blackburn earlier this week, snow meant market stalls and many smaller shops inside the town’s main Mall shopping centre shut early.

Mall general manager Loraine Jones said: “Most staff managed to get in, although the snow clearly had an impact on the smaller shops.

“However, otherwise it was business as usual, although obviously we have not been quite as busy.”

Bur the snow has boosted some traders such as supermarkets, which have reported a surge in sales as shoppers brace themselves for more snowfall at the weekend.

The Tesco store in Hill Street, Blackburn, reported customers stocking up on essentials such as bread and milk.

A spokesperson for the store said: "Customers have been anticipating the bad weather and stocking up on essentials, but we are not seeing panic buying and our delivery network is keeping stores stocked up."

Meanwhile, the Asda in Grimshaw retail Park, Blackburn, reported an increase in sales of cat litter, with customers using it as an alternative to salt for clearing roads and pathways.

An Asda spokeswoman said: "Sales of Wellington boots, puddings and take-away food, as well as anti-freeze products, fire logs and thermal underwear, have all seen big increases over the past two days."

She added that purchases of 25kg bags of grit were up by 32 per cent, George thermal underwear by 1,000 per cent and cat litter up by 55 per cent.

Fire logs were also up by 71 per cent and vacuum flasks by 129 per cent.

In Clitheroe, the Booths store saw sales resume to normal after people were panic-buying earlier in the week.

The Sainsbury's store in Burnley also reported an increase in customers with people stocking up on store cupboard and winter essential items.

Vicky Garlick, duty manager at the store in Active Way, said: "Deliveries are coming in as normal.

"We have been unusually busy today but we have put that down to the fact that people weren't able to get here on Tuesday."

Farouk Patel, who runs the Spar store in Openshaw Drive, Blackburn said his store had been 'really busy' with residents stocking up on groceries.

With more cars suffering problems in the ice and snow, some motor businesses have seen a surge in demand for their vital services to get the area moving again.

Blackburn car maintenance experts Trade Parts Specialists and breakdown firm Macadam, based in Colne, have seen revenue and orders rocket after freezing weather took over East Lancashire.

Shan Stone, manager at Trade Parts Specialists, which supplies VW and Audi parts from its base on the Shadsworth Business Park, said: "Business has been absolutely booming this week.

"At the moment, we are doing £25,000 a day, about double what we would normally get.

"However, in terms of getting the parts out it is a bit of a nightmare."

At Macadam, bosses said call-outs this week had almost tripled from 120 to 300 a day across its bases in Colne, Keighley, Skipton, Carnforth and Blackpool.

Car parts retailers have reported a marked increase in sales of batteries as the freezing conditions take their toll on motorists.

Cars being left inactive for days are leading to problems for many drivers when they attempt to start their vehicle.

Julian Lane, manager of Halfords, Grimshaw Park, Blackburn, said: "As well as the obvious massive jump in demand for anti-freeze and de-icer there's we've seen a big increase in sales of car batteries and jump leads."

Meanwhile, DIY giant B&Q has run out of rock salt at its stores in Blackburn and Nelson.

Bosses said it could take over a week for another delivery.

Jean Forshaw, supervisor at the Blackburn store, said: "The government has commandeered supplies for councils. People have been buying paint and emulsion as they do odd jobs around the house while they're off work."

The store in Nelson has been waiting for new stock for more than three weeks, a spokesman said.

Yesterday, some of East Lancashire's biggest employers said they had returned to some normality after an improvement in the weather.

With more cars suffering problems in the ice and snow, some motor businesses have seen a surge in demand for their vital services to get the area moving again.

Blackburn car maintenance experts Trade Parts Specialists and breakdown firm Macadam, based in Colne, have seen revenue and orders rocket after freezing weather took over East Lancashire.

Shan Stone, manager at Trade Parts Specialists, which supplies VW and Audi parts from its base on the Shadsworth Business Park, said: "Business has been absolutely booming this week.

"At the moment, we are doing £25,000 a day, about double what we would normally get.

"However, in terms of getting the parts out it is a bit of a nightmare."

At Macadam, bosses said call-outs this week had almost tripled from 120 to 300 a day across its bases in Colne, Keighley, Skipton, Carnforth and Blackpool.

Managing director Doug Macadam said: "We have been extremely hectic, as it always is when the weather gets cold and icy."

Mountaineering equipment, normally only purchased by hardened climbers, has been snapped up by East Lancs commuters eager to beat the big freeze.

Items such as walking poles, crampons and studded pullover ice cleats for shoes and boots have flown from the shelves of specialist retailers as people adapt to the conditions.

Kevin Wheatley, of Fell and Mountain, Water Street, Accrington, said he was out of stock of Spiky rubber ice cleats, which work on the same principle as studded snow tyres.

East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Mike Damms said that many companies had found ways to avoid the disruption, but others were badly hit.

He said: “The region’s economy will undoubtedly be hit by this weather but it will not be as bad as we were once used to.

“People can log on to emails and make phone calls from home, and the reality is that a lot of our ‘smart’ services will have done that.

“However, I would expect our major manufacturers to take a bit of a hit and other sectors that are people intensive, such as catering, will also suffer badly.”

Mr Damms said that, over several days, the snow could cost East Lancashire’s economy more than £2million.

Businesses concerned about the impact of snow fall have been urged to use a free service.

Bosses have been told to speak to Business Link North West for advice on crisis management as bad weather takes hold of East Lancashire.

MD Peter Watson said: “It is times like these when contingency planning really comes to light.”

Watch our video of people struggling in the snow in Blackburn.

How has the bad weather affected your business? Let us know by adding your comments below.