Portsmouth Traco business owner shares frustration after losing £300 per day from closure of Eastern Road

Jason Bentley, who has run relocation, clearance and storage business business Traco in Hilsea for the past decade, said that he has lost an average of £300 per day as a result of the Eastern Road closures and other major roadworks in the city. He said that the interruptions caused due to staff not being able to get in and out of the city has had a profound impact on moral and has led him to invest less in Portsmouth.

As previously reported by The News, motorists faced heavy delays after repeated closures at major routes in and out of Portsmouth at the end of last year as well as this year - as a result of the emergency works carried out by Southern Water to repair a burst sewage pipe in Eastern Road, and by SGN to upgrade the gas network in London Road, Hilsea. Most recently, Eastern Road was also shut overnight on Monday, April 15 while Colas carried out routine maintenance work and there was another leak to the sewage pipe along the same road which forced the road to be closed for a clean-up operation.

Traco managing director and founder Jason acknowledged that works are necessary, but that the past six months have been incredibly frustrating. He added that he would like to see Portsmouth City Council do more to mitigate the impacts and make sure that work carried out by Colas, Southern Water and SGN is done more efficiently.

This comes on top of the city centre roadworks being carried out to create bus lanes and green transport alternatives in and out of Portsmouth.

Speaking to The News, Jason Bentley said: “It has affected everybody in the city, but more so us than quite a few people. We have 20 people who all come into Hilsea to work - all of those 20 have been impacted in terms of getting in. When the guys are out on a job, we pay them when they get back to the yard.

“When they are coming back at four or five o’clock and then they’re waiting an hour or two trying to get back into the city, that’s time that we are paying them. We have two trucks which means we might have six people in a vehicle all sitting there on the motorway and each hour that goes by, they are being paid. That is a massive hit to us.”

He went on to explain that, more than the financial impact, the situation has had a profound impact on the mental health of himself and his staff. 

He added: “It just drives you insane. Knowing that you’re going to be late for your customers, having to call them and make apologies. It’s that constant pressure when you get in of when the job will start. It’s that fatigue before you even get into work. You come in already quite angry or irate from sitting in traffic for hours. It has just been so draining.

Traco is expanding to procure a new warehouse just outside of London, a decision motivated in part by the recurrences which has made him “really stop investing in Portsmouth”. The entrepreneur expressed that, through speaking to other local business owners, he feels that the instances send a “loud and clear” message that “Portsmouth is not open for business”.

He said: “I can’t run a business, ultimately, if I can’t get in and out of the city - and it’s happening more and more. We have just noticed in the last year that, generally, road build-up and congestion is increasing. There are more and more people on this island, more drivers coming on the roads each day.

“We are only going to get more and more congested. At the moment, Portsmouth is not a good place to be. When I talk to another business, it’s the only thing we talk about. The last six months have been horrendous in Portsmouth. I don’t want to come into work angry but you do - you just can’t shake it. And you’re not sure who you’re angry at.”

As previous reported by The News, Portsmouth City Council liaised with Southern Water and SGN to ensure that planned works at Eastern Road and London Road did not take place at the same time.

Portsmouth City Council, Southern Water and SGN have been contacted for comment.