Site dirt '˜ruined' stock

Owners of a Blackpool card shop hope their petition will get the message across to developers they are claiming compensation from.
Sisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo Cards with their petition asking for compensation from construction firm LovellsSisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo Cards with their petition asking for compensation from construction firm Lovells
Sisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo Cards with their petition asking for compensation from construction firm Lovells

Twins Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo Cards on Talbot Road are seeking around £2,000 in damages from Lovell’s, the company building new homes on the site of the former Queens Park flats.

The sisters say they lost a substantial amount of stock due to dirt and dust being sprayed across their shop, which is on the corner of the original entrance to the site, and its surroundings during the demolition of the tower blocks last summer.

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Despite talks with Lovells, they say their claim has so far been ignored. Now they have collected 300 signatures in support of their campaign.

Some of the damaged stock belonging to sisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo CardsSome of the damaged stock belonging to sisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo Cards
Some of the damaged stock belonging to sisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo Cards

Tracey said: “Our shop is right on the corner of the original entrance to the demolition site and every day we had to put up with huge wagons coming and going into the site with mud and dust covered wheels, which left a horrible mess on our pavements and subsequently in our shop.

“Very large articulated lorries also used to park right outside our shop with their diesel engines polluting the air both outside and inside.”

Jackie added: “The day of the demolition was just horrendous.

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“We were forced to close the shop during the actual demolition, but when we re-opened we were shocked at the amount of dust that had managed to get into the premises through every nook and cranny.”

Some of the damaged stock belonging to sisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo CardsSome of the damaged stock belonging to sisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo Cards
Some of the damaged stock belonging to sisters Tracey Strangwick and Jackie Bell from Cameo Cards

The sisters, who have run the store for six years, had to throw away stock including greetings cards, banners and gifts which had all been covered in grey and black dust, and sold other affected goods at cut-down prices.

Tracey said: “We are not after lining our pockets, we just want the value of the stock we had to destroy and sell off.

“Ours is a small community business and this loss of stock could have meant we would have to close but we have soldiered on and continued to work without profit to try and replace our damaged stock.”

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Last August it emerged a family living on Addison Crescent were given an £8,000 handout by Lovells in order to leave their home ahead of the flats being demolished.

Lovells did not respond when asked to comment.

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