First Stop Spanner Works

Garage / Ferry Hinksey Road

We’re down about 20% by volume ... We had to downsize. As a result I have to work much longer hours, up from 45 hours/week to 60.′

I’ve had this garage for 10 years now. In fact, it’s the oldest garage in Oxford and now, the only one in the city centre. We’re a general garage, we do MOT, repairs, servicing, tyres.

The closure had an immediate and serious impact. Of course, we get no business any more from people in town. For example, we used to get breakdowns from the Westgate car park, which is only 400 metres away, but since the closure it’s become a 9 mile drive. We used to get people coming from as far as Witney and High Wycombe, who don’t come any more. I’d say we’re down about 20% by volume. We no longer open on Saturdays, that was when we’d get business from the Westgate. 

The closure has other consequences. Deliveries are much slower. Deliveries are usually planned on the basis of multiple stops at perhaps 10 customers, and we’d be one. But now they have to plan a single journey to reach us. As a result, we have to carry higher stock. We had to downsize, from 4 staff to 3. As a result, I have to work much longer hours myself, up from about 45 hours a week to 60. Of course that has consequences for family life. I’ve also had to postpone new investment on replacing old machines etc. Obviously, that’s only short term, you can’t carry on doing that.

There’s been no help at all. Network Rail say they have these wonderful customer care policies and that they’ll reply within 5 working days but often I’ve contacted them and got no reply at all, ever. When I have met them, they haven’t seemed at all interested. They said they’d make a video of my business but I don’t see how that could help: customers know where I am, it’s just that they can’t reach me. 

I did try to persuade Network Rail to be more innovative. For instance, they and Kier have vehicle fleets we could have helped maintain, they have vacant retail sites in the station that could have been used by West Oxford traders directly, or to advertise our services. But they just weren’t interested. Network Rail is a huge bureaucracy, in many ways they are less open and less accountable than a private company would be.

The constant changing of plans and deadlines by Network Rail, usually at the last minute, makes things even more difficult. Small business needs to plan around 12 months ahead, obviously that’s now quite impossible, we don’t know what the next month will bring. We’ve no idea at all now when the road will reopen. It’s just so very, very frustrating. It feels like we’ve become an island cut off from the rest of the world. The powers that be just don’t have any interest in small businesses. But small businesses are really the life of a community. For example, during COVID when we dropped off a car, we’d also pick up groceries for customers. 

I don’t think the impact is just on West Oxford businesses, it’s the whole city, because of the knock-on effects of closing a major artery. And I think it will have long term effects, because customers get into the habit of going elsewhere and of writing off central Oxford.

Zach Iqbal

Oxford Bus Company

Oxford

We are a commercial business, therefore if we lose income, we’re in trouble. We were making good progress in recovering from COVID when Botley Road closed. 

There’s been a significant decline in passenger numbers and income, around 7 to 10% on the affected routes. That’s equivalent to approximately £400,000. In addition, because routes that were previously run cross-city are now cut in half at the bridge, you need more buses to run the same route, as well as more drivers. And there are other problems. There is nowhere on the western side of the city for drivers to have their rest time — which we’re obliged to provide — so we’ve had to buy extra cars to drive them via the ring road to our main depot .

When we were told the road wouldn’t re-open in October 2023 as planned, we told the council we’d have to drastically reduce services, and they agreed to subsidize some of the affected routes in order to maintain frequencies and hours of operation. 

Network Rail have been difficult to work with. It is challenging to get a straight answer out of them; we have found that we have been dealing with a rather larger level of ‘surprises’ than we would have expected.

As well as the road closure, we’re also struggling with slower journey times, as a result of LTNs, which funnel a lot of traffic from side roads onto the main arteries, which clog up. For example, peak time journey times for the ST1 to Harwell [15 miles south] have risen from 51 minutes to 77 minutes. Transit times on Abingdon Road are up by an average of 17%. The county council has devised the ‘traffic filter’ scheme to help with this, but of course the filters can’t put be put in as long as the Botley Road is closed. In fact, the county council have a commitment in their Enhanced Partnership agreement under which they undertake to increase bus speeds in Oxford city by 10% by March next year, but if Botley Road is still closed and the traffic filters aren’t in, that’s not going to happen.

Network Rail have been difficult to work with. It's challenging to get a straight answer out of them ...′

We’ve spent £30m investing in a huge electric bus fleet and recharging points. Unfortunately, the combination of very slow traffic speeds and the Botley Road closure means that we’re not able to deploy them efficiently within the city.

One of the justifications for increasing the height of the rail bridge was because bus companies were having to buy specially made lower height buses. In fact, many new buses are manufactured in this lower height, low height buses are used in many parts of the UK, and we have other low bridges on our network, which require these. Due to the uncertainty around the completion date of the bridge works, when we bought the new electric fleet we decided to keep these vehicles to the same reduced height. So there was no urgent need to increase headroom under the bridge.

Next year is looking very difficult commercially. If the Botley Road is still closed and thus the traffic filters can’t go in, traffic speeds are going to remain reduced in areas like the Abingdon Road. My concern is that customers form habits, if they stop taking the bus because it’s so slow, they may not come back to it when speeds eventually pick up. And there has been significant and long-term damage done to bus patronage on the Botley Road itself.

If you look at how this has all panned out, the never-ending delays and repeated changes of plans, you just feel that it must have been possible to make a better job of it than this.

Luke Marion Managing Director

The Oxford Wine Company

Botley Road

The road closure had a huge effect on us. Sales are down by 40-50%. We used to get a lot of sales from people leaving Oxford, after work - they could pull in and park just outside.

The other thing is delivery into Oxford – our vans have to go all the way round the ring road. We’ve spent a lot of money on extra fuel and staff time, driving round the ring road —  when it’s working, that is.

The latest delay is a disaster. A short while ago I was asked about my lease, and I thought, in the autumn the road’ll reopen, then we can have a good run at Christmas. So I signed for an extension. Now, out of the blue, we’re told that it won’t reopen, and no one knows when it’ll reopen.

And beyond that we’ve got traffic filters, so customers in Jericho and so on will be much less likely to come out here.

We’ve had no help. The council wouldn’t help. Business rates relief doesn’t help because we were already on very reduced rates post COVID. As for Network Rail, they never even replied to my request for a discussion. Never replied. I just despair. 

Ted Sandbach Owner / MD

The Porterhouse

Grill and Rooms / Mill Street

People  came here from north Oxford and Jericho. All that just stopped  dead. Anyone looking forward to a special night out, they're not going to want to trudge through the grimy pedestrian tunnel.′ 

We set up here in 2017. There was an opportunity here around the development of the old power station by Said Business School.

The closure of Botley Road affected both sites, but the Porterhouse more. We’re a destination restaurant — people come here from north Oxford and Jericho. We’d get perhaps 5 taxis a night. All that just stopped dead. Taxis just didn’t want to come and it’s a long way around the ring road and very expensive. And anyone looking forward to a special night out, they’re not going to want to trudge through the grimy and graffitied pedestrian tunnel. So we lost 15 or 20 covers a night. Like for like, we’re down about 10% on both sites.

But it’s not just the loss of income. With a new restaurant, you have to work really hard to establish your name, to get the repeat business. I’m worried that even when road eventually reopens, we’ll have to do all that again from scratch.

No one offered any help. Network Rail said, claim on our business insurance but that’s a total non-starter and a total waste of time, since the closure had been trailed for years. Neither Network Rail nor the council were willing to talk about compensation. We looked into business rates relief, but it’s a lot of paperwork for not very much money. Network Rail suggested making a video to advertise us, I thought this was just having a laugh. Our former customers know exactly where we are — the other side of the blockade!

It’s just ridiculous in this day and age and in this country, that they can just cut you off from your customers for years without any compensation or help in any way whatsoever. Network Rail are without any care at all for the people who live and the businesses here in West Oxford.

Tom Rainey Owner
(also owns ‘The Punter’ pub on Osney Island)

Tap SocIal

Social enterprise / Curtis Ind. Estate, Botley

We've been on the site since 2017. We offer employment and training to prisoners on day release, and ex-prisoners, and our Botley tap-room is very events-driven.

Closure of Botley Road had a massive impact on footfall. We are often completely empty on days when we would have been heaving.  We used to get a lot of people from east Oxford but now it means 2 bus journeys and an unpleasant wait in between, people can’t be bothered to come out here. On top of that, it is now much more difficult getting to and from Eynsham and Witney, you have to go back into the centre of Oxford and catch another bus from there, so the journey time is doubled. And they no longer run a night bus, so late events are impossible if you live over that way.

Revenue is about halved, so the amount of employment we can offer is reduced and we’ve got less money to hire local music performers and run events.

At first we tried to talk to Kier about support, but now they no longer respond.

We understand projects don’t always go to plan, but overall, the whole thing's been a complete mess, with a lack of support for local businesses. Very basic things like providing publicity in the form of banners has taken nearly two years and they're still not available and they don't really tell you what's available or where things are.

There should have been a taxi rank this side of the blockade, it's ridiculous that people have to go right into Oxford to get a taxi. We would have expected the council to help out but they've done nothing. The impact financially is devastating, it's difficult to remain viable.

Tess Taylor Director

Westgate / River Hotels

Hotel / Botley Road

Dealing with Network Rail on practical problems has been a nightmare ... They are so badly organised. It's the opposite 
of hands-on management.′

Our problems are different to other businesses since we’re so close to the train station, access for customers is less of a problem.

Basically, we are in the middle of a building site and the worst issue is the noise, particularly work at night. If guests can’t sleep, they walk out and we have to refund the guests for their stay. Because we’re only a few yards away, it doesn’t take much to disturb guests, a digger reversing or just groups of so-called traffic marshals hanging around, chatting and playing music.

We’re trying to keep occupancy rates up by not raising our prices, even though we face record inflation. The high turnover rate has additional costs for us, for example, more bedding changes and cleaning. There’s also management time spent in dealing with Network Rail. Then there is reputational damage — people leaving poor reviews online.

From the outset, Network Rail claimed that because this was a government project, they were not liable for any damage to our business. Dealing with them on practical problems has been a nightmare. Even when they agreed to take action, it always takes forever for them to do anything. For example, there were too many wardens hanging around with little to do overnight, they would sit and chat all night and play with their phones. It ended up with their friends coming on site to have a little party and they were keeping our guests awake. Network Rail first claimed that because they were under contract from a third party, it was nothing to do with them. It took a long time for them to reduce the numbers and deal with the rowdy ones. 

Another example, they put up barriers right outside our windows to dig a hole, but then the barriers were left there, even after the work had been done. I couldn’t get any action from above, until we talked to the workers on the ground — they took them away at once.

Another example, they set up generators to power the temporary lights, right outside our front door. There’s no reason it has to be right outside the front door but despite numerous requests, nothing was done. After months of requests, we eventually managed to have the site foreman move the generator and he suggested that there had been no discussion about the generator from their office.

Similarly, the pumps in use to keep water out of the works run 24 / 7, even Network Rail admit that it’s old equipment and very noisy. They said they would use soundproofing but the barriers were left in the yard for a week until we complained, then once installed they moved the pumps away from the soundproof barrier and ran them with the engine hood off, showing total disregard for their neighbours. Again, the pumps were left running even when there were no workers on site, until I insisted and they were finally turned off. The blame is always shifted from one contractor to the other. 

Network Rail is so badly organised. Different teams seem to work in complete isolation from each other. It’s the opposite of hands-on management. I’m a manager myself and I know how you get a problem sorted, you need to be on the spot and give clear instructions and then check that it gets done. For example, I once called them to the hotel because of noisy working overnight, but the guy who came didn’t even know there was anyone working overnight because he was from a different branch. There’s also this thing where you get completely different explanations for things at different times. It doesn’t seem to matter to them what explanation they give you. This happened when I asked why they were doing the preparatory work for piling, which is much less noisy during the day, but doing the piling itself, which is extremely noisy, at night — why couldn’t they do it the other way round? I never got an answer. Nor on why they don’t use more modern piling machines which are less noisy. It just doesn’t seem to matter to them, cut costs and leave somebody else with the problem.

They agreed to inform us when the noisy work would be scheduled so we could properly inform our guests in advance. This was frequently done on the day, or on the day after the overnight work commenced. 

The latest delays have left us in an impossible position, not having the slightest idea when the work will finish and when the road will reopen. We just can’t continue another year in this way. We were forced to reduce room rates, to maintain occupancy, for what we were told would be two summers. The disruption has now been constant since April 2023 with no end in sight. We cannot continue operating at a loss. 

The whole project is such a shambles, it would be laughable if it didn’t have such dire consequences. I’d like somebody independent to come in and look at what Network Rail is doing and the damage they are doing to the city and rethink the whole thing. Better than these constant postponements, then a new plan, and then that’s postponed, and so on and so on. I really don’t think Network Rail care at all. It just doesn’t register for them what their impact is on local business. 

Andy Jones Manager