THE owners of a Fordingbridge dog grooming salon feel “no one cares” about their business after it was left to flood repeatedly because of a blocked drain. 

Sam and Matt Legg, who run Pampered Dogs Grooming Salon and Colfords of Fordingbridge Dog and Cat Food Specialists in Salisbury Street, say the problem, which has been reported to Hampshire County Council, has been going on for nearly 18 months.

Sam said: “They keep saying, ‘we’ll do it’ then delaying it and delaying it.”

The work is scheduled to take place on February 6 but the couple say they have had numerous dates cancelled already. 

Sam said: “Whatever date they give us it doesn’t mean anything. We have been cancelled on many times. It’s pointless really.”

The couple says the council had told them a temporary fix would be carried out at the end of 2018, but this was put on hold because there was no permission for the work to go ahead. 

The couple said: “They [the council] took responsibility in July - having it sorted within three or four months would have been acceptable. I did plead with them before winter and the bad weather. I have no faith in their February date.”

“No-one cares. To be honest they are all very polite on the phone, it is just all talk. They don’t do anything,” said Sam. 

And she said she lost customers after cancelling dog grooming appointments because she was unable to work in the salon because of the flood water, which is also a health and safety risk. 

Matt added: “If it was just the salon operating and we didn’t have a shop then we wouldn’t be here we would have gone bust for sure.”

The couple say they have lost about £4,000 in wages. 
Sam says the landlord has called Hampshire County Council’s Highways department numerous times and even brought in experts to investigate the problem before it was found to be the responsibility of the council. 

The couple say there has been up to seven inches of water flooding the grooming salon. 

“Everytime it rains [it floods],” added Matt. “A year and a half is long enough to wait.”

They say the flooding has caused hundreds of pounds in damage - ruining the flooring and freezers and causing metal grooming tables to rust - which Matt says “is money we haven’t got”. 

Sam said: “The council should be screaming out to help and encourage small businesses.”

The couple relies on the dog grooming business to bring in their wage and family income and say the situation has caused a lot of stress. 

They said: “We don’t want to leave, if it does carry on we won’t have much choice. They need to have a heart.”

Sam said: “We’d like Highways not to just treat us as a case number and realise that Matt and I are a family of four and live on one wage.”

Councillor Rob Humby, the executive member for environment and transport at Hampshire County Council, said: “I can confirm that our highways team has carried out a preliminary investigation of the surface water drainage system in the area, using a combination of high pressure water jetting and CCTV, in order to explore the source of the problem. 

“The next stage is for our team to gain permission to go onto private land and carry out further investigations, by means of excavation, to establish if the issue is a highway problem or related to privately owned drainage.

"I understand our teams have kept Mr and Mrs Legg informed throughout and will carry out investigations into the underground drainage on their land as soon as they give legal permission for us to do so.”