A POPULAR car garage is being forced to close following a longstanding parking row, which has left the owner “completely broken”.
Tony Evens, who has run Mount Street Garage, in Bishops Lydeard, Somerset, for the last 20 years, has been forced to shut up shop after a parking row escalated and left him with fines of £400.
Tony Evens, 64, has been running Mount Street Garage for the last 20 years[/caption]
The Village Hall car park has space for up to 70 cars but has now enforced parking restrictions which are affecting Tony’s business[/caption]
The mechanic has parked customer cars that are awaiting collection in the car park across the road for years but the Village Hall Committee, who own the car park, is no longer allowing cars to be parked there.
They have since erected ANPR cameras in the car park, resulting in Tony’s customers receiving fines on their cars.
Despite numerous back and forth with the committee, the situation has not been resolved and now Tony says he’s done.
The mechanic, who suffers from high blood pressure, told The Sun: “I’m done, they have jeopardised my business and they don’t seem to care. I’ve had to close the workshop because of this and I am broken.”
“I was hoping for a little bit of support from them. They are ripping out the heart of the village. The butcher has gone, the hardware store has gone, the post office has gone and now the workshop.”
“I’ve had to make the decision to shut the workshop and lay off staff. There’s no one left, just me and my friend. I have closed it and I’m not taking on anymore business and I will be physically closing it this Friday.”
‘ABSOLUTELY BROKEN’
Tony claims he spoke to a member of the committee last year warning them that the cameras would have a knock on effect on his business but was allegedly told: “It’s happening so deal with it.”
He said: “They don’t seem to see the bigger picture. They have the funny idea that people are parking in the car park and catching the bus.”
“I am absolutely broken, all the fight has gone from me now, I’m normally a fighter but this has broken me.”
“It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t do so much for them over the years. I’ve never charged them, I’ve just fixed things for them in the community spirit, which they don’t seem to have.”
“I’ve paid rent ever since I’ve been there… so it is not as if I’m not paying my dues.”
A concerned member of the town has since written into the Somerset Country Gazette, expressing her upset over the whole situation.
Tara Morris has called for the committee to show some “flexibility” to a “hardworking business owner” and find a “pragmatic solution”.
According to the garage’s Facebook group, the garage offers MOTs and servicing, batteries, tyres and bodywork, as well as having a well stocked shop.
Last July, Tony shared a post on the page, warning the community about the car park restrictions.
He wrote: “Just a heads up… the village hall car park is being fitted with amp cameras, so now one is allowed to park for more than 5 hours at any one time. If this is the case, it will directly affect my business and may force me to close, as unfortunately this is unworkable.”
‘ALL THE FIGHT HAS GONE FROM ME’
Residents responded in support of Tony, with one saying “this is absolutely ludicrous and totally unnecessary”, while another said “sounds like a jobs worth on the committee”.
Four years ago, Tony’s garage made headlines after he awarded one of his mechanics a special gift to celebrate an impressive stint working at the garage.
Graham Moore, 78, worked at Mount Street Garage for 63 years and Tony gifted him a sundial to mark the milestone.
At the time, Mr Moore told Somerset Country Gazette: “I have known Tony since he was a boy, he was my apprentice. He always told me he wanted to get me something but he didn’t know what and then he came up with this and it was lovely.
Mr Moore has since spoken out about the workshop closing, telling Tony he is “cutting off a piece of my life”.
When approached for comment, the Village Hall Committee said: “We have done all we can to accommodate the garage’s needs.”
They explained that restrictions are enforced due to the fact that “for some time, the VHMC had been concerned about the amount of ‘unauthorised all-day parking’ taking place within the hall’s car park. This resulted, on occasions, with no parking spaces for genuine hall users.
“It was decided to solve this problem by employing Car Park Management to install and operate a car parking system based upon an ANPR camera.”
Under the restrictions, cars cannot park overnight between midnight and 7.30am and car parking is restricted to a maximum of five hours.
Their exemptions do include a mention of Mount Street Garage, stating: “Mount Street Garage will be able to electronically authorise and implement an exemption from these restrictions for their customer’s vehicles for one day only between 07:30 and 19:00 for 7 days a week.”
But Tony maintains that these e-permits are not sufficient enough as some of his customers are not able to get back to collect their cars within the parking window, especially if they work out of the area.
He said: “I’ve had customers come to me for simple work, their car is then parked in the car park and they get a £100 fine because they haven’t been able to collect it in time. They then come to me and say they’re taking their car somewhere else because they don’t want another fine. So it has a knock on effect on my business.”
Discussing what’s next for him, Tony said: “I’ve now got to circle the wagons and see where I go from here. I’ve had the plot on the market for a very long time but no one has taken an interest. I might have to look at making the shop bigger instead.
“It’s a very sad day, the garage has been here since 1908 and it is one of the longest and oldest garages in the area.”
Tony Evens has said his business is unsustainable if he can no longer park his customers’ cars in the nearby car park[/caption]
Four mechanics have already been laid off while the workshop is due to close on Friday[/caption]
