Gracie’s: An apology
The owners of a garage in East Kilbride fear long-running roadworks will drive away business.
A section of the Jackton Road, near the Eagesham Road, is closed for five weeks for drainage improvement works.
And with long diversions in place, familyowned Findlay’s Garage in Jackton claim business will be badly hit.
Lorna McLean, who runs the business with husband Findlay, told the News:“We are a bit out the way anyway and this could hurt us.
“If someone is dropping their car off at us, we will give them a lift to the nearest bus stop, or quite often they are happy to walk back, or take their dog with them and go for a walk.
“That would probably take them about five minutes to get the nearest bus stop.
“Now we need to drive them about two or three miles along a route that will be busy with residents — it’s just not practical.
“A lot of our customers are repeat business, or families coming here for generations, but the road changes could hit us hard.
“We still need to run a business, we have our staff to pay and if we aren’t getting regulars through the door because they can’t reach us, I don’t know what we will do.”
She added: “It’s also a matter of safety. People will now have to walk along a single track road if they don’t have a car. The road is a main route into Jackton — wouldn’t it be safer to make a pedestrian path?”
South Lanarkshire Council head of roads and transportation Gordon Mackay said: “We are aware of concerns regarding pedestrian access during the period of this road closure and will discuss them with the developers.” In last week’s East Kilbride News an article in relation to Gracie’s on the Loch at the James Hamilton Heritage Park changing hands stated the owners had gone into liquidation prior to retendering.
The News would like to clarify that the company has not gone into liquidation and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
The current contract with the council runs out at the end of October and therefore it was put out to tender and is still trading.
A lot of our customers are repeat business, so the road changes could hit us hard...