Police towed away Blackburn man's vehicle to make way for roadworks (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Police towed away Blackburn man's vehicle to make way for roadworks
12:00pm Tuesday 17th July 2012 in News
By Lisa Woodhouse, Assistant picture editor
‘BUSINESS CRIPPLED’ Istkar Hussain and Maz Aktar of AJ Foods.
SHOCKED bosses at a food wholesalers turned up for work yesterday – only to find one of their vehicles had done a vanishing act.
During the night police had taken it away on a low loader so that vital sewer works could be carried out.
Imran Hussain, manager of A J Foods, was left angry because he says no warning was given.
He even reported the Mercades Sprinter van stolen to the police.
United Utilities who are carrying out the work said they had discussed placement of machinery with the community and police said they were investigating why their officers had removed the van.
Mr Hussain said large concrete bricks and metal railings had also been left blocking the entrance to the wholesalers.
He said the nocturnal activity had ‘crippled’ the company, leaving customers unable to manoeuvre trolleys out of the building and the business unable to make deliveries.
CCTV footage recorded by AJ Foods shows police putting cones out along Dickens Street at around 9.30pm on Sunday and the vehicle being removed at 1am.
A crane is later seen moving the concrete blocks in front of the entrance to the shop front at 7.30am - blocking the ramp used by customers.
Mr Hussain, 25, said: “It was a big shock and it has crippled our business.
“We thought the vehicle has been stolen and reported it to the police.
“The CCTV shows everything was done overnight and without any advanced warning.
“They should have had the decency to tell us about it or ask us to move the van on a certain day. Someone has done this deliberately and without warning.
“They say someone came round on Sunday to let businesses know but what is the point of a warning at the weekend when no-one is around.
“We have a business to run and it has effected us in a big way. Customers and our wagons have no where to go. It has really affected our trade.”
Last night the company was able to collect the van from a police pound, but had to pay a release fee of £150.
He said the van, one of a fleet of seven, was used to make daily deliveries. It had been parked next to road closure signs which stopped any through traffic.
Mr Hussain said: “We weren’t causing any obstruction. I think the police and United Utilities have been very sneaky.”
A spokesman for United Utilities said: “The van was taken by the police.
“A highway notice by Blackburn with Darwen Council has been enforced to allow us to carry our the works. The owners of the business were informed of this.
“The work has been ongoing in the area for a number of months in parts of Blackburn to upsize sewers to allow them to take more water during heavy downpours.
“Businesses have been attending residents’ meetings on an ongoing basis. They were notified of the need not to have vehicles on the road yesterday by staff from United Utilities and in a written format as well. Blackburn with Darwen Council have also advertised the road closure.
“Most people have been really understanding but this week we reluctantly had to ask police to come to the site and they decided to enforce the legal parking restriction, so that we can work effectively and get our work done for the benefit of the whole community.”
A police spokeswoman said officers recovered the van after reports of the vehicle obstructing the road She said: “We are aware and an investigation is currently under way to establish the circumstances surrounding the removal of the van.”
Comments(24)
notchuffed
says...
12:26pm Tue 17 Jul 12
roversjeff wrote:No you should have put compensation culture state.
That's what happens when we live in a POLICE STATE!
Can I smell a claim coming up with the road being closed? What do they call it 'Infringement of Human Rights?'
Seems that everybody was fully informed as to what was going to happen, so how did the proprietor of this establishment not know?
Life is just one big question! -Is it not?
jack daniels
says...
12:27pm Tue 17 Jul 12
"They were notified of the need not to have vehicles on the road yesterday by staff from United Utilities and in a written format as well. Blackburn with Darwen Council have also advertised the road closure"
So either United Utilities are lying or Mr Hussain has ignored the highway notice and got what he deserved.
sen c ble
says...
12:36pm Tue 17 Jul 12
notchuffed wrote:Regular LET readers will no doubt recognise him form his previous front page stunts and as always unable to commence his business activities reasonably, with 'crippling' results!!!
roversjeff wrote:No you should have put compensation culture state.
That's what happens when we live in a POLICE STATE!
Can I smell a claim coming up with the road being closed? What do they call it 'Infringement of Human Rights?'
Seems that everybody was fully informed as to what was going to happen, so how did the proprietor of this establishment not know?
Life is just one big question! -Is it not?
Malcolm123
says...
12:40pm Tue 17 Jul 12
The police should also sort out people who tow away to private pounds making charges of 360 pounds before returning vehicles. It is stupid things like this that lose public cooperation with authorities.Go catch criminals
hi everyone
says...
12:44pm Tue 17 Jul 12
prince of darkness
says...
2:24pm Tue 17 Jul 12
jack daniels wrote:Again not prepared to go by our normal standards think it dosent apply to them. No pity on him agree got what he deserved.
"A highway notice by Blackburn with Darwen Council has been enforced to allow us to carry our the works. The owners of the business were informed of this"
"They were notified of the need not to have vehicles on the road yesterday by staff from United Utilities and in a written format as well. Blackburn with Darwen Council have also advertised the road closure"
So either United Utilities are lying or Mr Hussain has ignored the highway notice and got what he deserved.
jimpy0
says...
2:58pm Tue 17 Jul 12
dougsie
says...
4:22pm Tue 17 Jul 12
woolywords
says...
4:32pm Tue 17 Jul 12
Mr Hussain, if you are working in a warehouse enviroment, you and your staff, must wear safety footwear, at all times. It's a law in this country and has been for some time. Staff working in and around vehicles must wear high visibilty clothing, again, at all times.
I would hate for anyone at the Health & Safety Executive to see you in your workplace without the proper Personal Protection Equipment, especially as fines for non-compliance start at around £1000.
katypri
says...
5:55pm Tue 17 Jul 12
Jjk007
says...
9:32pm Tue 17 Jul 12
I believe no pen pushers work on a Sunday to give notice what load of rubbish. The police think they can do what they want. As resident I can confirm there was no notice given. United utilities are full of lies and have too much of our money to waste.
Jjk007
says...
9:55pm Tue 17 Jul 12
In regards to your comment about safety at work. Please go get your eyes tested, you need to be on the new spec saver adverts as you can't see these people are out side a work place not inside. The police should have more sense to at least pnc the vehicle, as it was outside the work address where it's always parked. " the notice given" where 6 months outdated. United utilities should have gone home months ago. Get some proper workers
255.255.255.0
says...
10:15pm Tue 17 Jul 12
woolywords wrote:Your comments are out of touch with the story. Don't use this article to drive your backward thoughts. Its completely unrelated. You cant even spell multi cultural correctly. Looks like someone needs to learn how to spell in their apparent 'own' language before jumping to silly conclusions.
Obviously, this one of those problems that comes up now and again in multi-cultral Britain, where notices may be given, in person, on lamp posts and in the media but, and here lies the rub, where they printed in any of the 138 dialects spoken in the sub-Asian countries, so that the 'locals' knew what was going to happen? I don't think so...
Give the man a compensation claim form before we get accused of being racially insensitive. Just make sure it's printed in English though, just to expose the lie.
ex council slave
says...
7:19am Wed 18 Jul 12
bulldogbrfc
says...
8:16am Wed 18 Jul 12
Black Car Guy.
says...
12:11pm Wed 18 Jul 12
dougsie wrote:The owners may have been notified but maybe it had been wrote in English and he could not understand it?
the owners were notified about the closure they simply just ignored it thinking they were above the law and its come back and smacked them in their face and pockets where it hurts them most hard luck think next time
Your ferret stinks
says...
1:52pm Wed 18 Jul 12
He just played ignorant and got caught out.
If your reading this Mr Hussain try cleaning your store frontage of all the rotten fruit and veg as it is providing a breeding ground for rats and the tons of empty pallets are a fire hazzard, try thinking about your neighbours for a change instead of yourself!
dougsie
says...
3:54pm Wed 18 Jul 12
Black Car Guy. wrote:as in rome the saying says so if hes running a company in this country then he should be able to read english then perhaps he could have understood it . i rest my case.
dougsie wrote: the owners were notified about the closure they simply just ignored it thinking they were above the law and its come back and smacked them in their face and pockets where it hurts them most hard luck think next timeThe owners may have been notified but maybe it had been wrote in English and he could not understand it?
Bredrin
says...
4:45pm Wed 18 Jul 12
join the bankers and the politicians.
Bredrin
says...
4:45pm Wed 18 Jul 12
join the bankers and the politicians.
Ronnietate
says...
10:51pm Wed 18 Jul 12
Jjk007
says...
11:13pm Wed 18 Jul 12
Your ferret stinks wrote:Mr ferret
For this guy to say he did not know about this is absolutely nuts, United Utilities and DCT have been working on this project for the last 6/7 months just a little further up from this guys business and it was always planned that the work would come down the street with agreed times and dates.
He just played ignorant and got caught out.
If your reading this Mr Hussain try cleaning your store frontage of all the rotten fruit and veg as it is providing a breeding ground for rats and the tons of empty pallets are a fire hazzard, try thinking about your neighbours for a change instead of yourself!
When had DCT or united utilities finished work on time. They promised us residents they will be gone by end of march!!! For Christ sake where nearly in August. DCT don't have a clue what they doing. They probably can't arrrange a **** up in a brewery if they all even put there heads together.
The company is not a store or nor they sell fruit n veg the all thing your breeding is crap ferret what stinks. Get your eyes checked
Jjk007
says...
11:13pm Wed 18 Jul 12
Your ferret stinks wrote:Mr ferret
For this guy to say he did not know about this is absolutely nuts, United Utilities and DCT have been working on this project for the last 6/7 months just a little further up from this guys business and it was always planned that the work would come down the street with agreed times and dates.
He just played ignorant and got caught out.
If your reading this Mr Hussain try cleaning your store frontage of all the rotten fruit and veg as it is providing a breeding ground for rats and the tons of empty pallets are a fire hazzard, try thinking about your neighbours for a change instead of yourself!
When had DCT or united utilities finished work on time. They promised us residents they will be gone by end of march!!! For Christ sake where nearly in August. DCT don't have a clue what they doing. They probably can't arrrange a **** up in a brewery if they all even put there heads together.
The company is not a store or nor they sell fruit n veg the all thing your breeding is crap ferret what stinks. Get your eyes checked
roversjeff says...
12:09pm Tue 17 Jul 12