A BEAUTY salon can now resume trading after being forced to shut for three days after contractors cut through a water pipe outside.

Tabitha Wilkinson from Beauty by Tabitha lost out on three days of trading when contractors working on the roadworks in St John’s cut through water pipe.

Ms Wilkinson said: “It has been a nightmare. We have thousands of pounds in lost trade and staff wages. We hate feeling like we are letting customers down and are so glad this has now been sorted and we can continue to provide our services.”

St John’s councillor Richard Udall has been helping the business owner get back on her feet. He said: “It was a terrible weekend for Tabitha, the council contractors damaged the water pipe connecting the supply to her property and then blocked it with rubble. It took Severn Trent Water three attempts to reconnect her supply, she lost a whole weekend of business.

“Clearly the contractor was to blame and has agreed to compensate her for all the costs incurred. She should never have been left in such circumstances, it was clearly wrong for the contractor to damage her water supply and then leave her to deal with it herself.

“However, I thank Worcestershire Highways for coming along to try and resolve the situation. The whole process of the roadworks have been a nightmare for traders, this is just another example of problems. I accept it was not deliberate and mistakes happen, but hopefully the council will learn from the whole episode and make the changes to ensure these problems cannot happen again”.

A Worcestershire County Council spokesman said: “We are aware of the damages and subsequent issues caused by the third-party contractors in St Johns.

“We would like to apologise to the salon, for the inconvenience. We continue to work closely with the salon owner and the contractors to ensure normal business can return.”