Glasgow businesses on a major road facing months of closure have hit out at the "dire" impact it is having.
High Street was initially closed to all vehicles at the beginning of January for Scottish Water repair works. These were expected to finish by the end of February.
However, it has now been pushed back until summer, with the company confirming the road will remain closed between its junctions with Duke Street and Rottenrow until around Friday, June 30.
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The extension was put in place to ensure extensive repairs, with Scottish Water stating there have been "several challenges" with the works.
Businesses have said the impact of the road closure has been "horrible", adding there has not been enough support from Scottish Water to mitigate the impact.
Gordon Jennens, owner of appliance store Crum Spares and Repairs said: "It’s an absolute disaster. There was no consultation, they didn’t speak to businesses.
"The High Street has been in decline the last 15 years. Most of the businesses are in a dire situation.
"That’s a month we’ve put up with them. If people can’t come to me and access my business, it has a massive impact.
"They haven’t allowed any vehicle access. I need access to my van, it needs to be close to the shop. It has a big impact of the business.
"I’m not asking a lot, just for my van to be parked at the side. We’re having to work through barriers. We’ve been obstructed in every single way.
"It’s a horrible situation. I’ve not slept at all this week, it’s constantly in the back of my mind.
"We’ve been here so long, my wife’s been involved in the shop for well over 30 years and it can be traced back to the early 60s. We’re one of the last well-known High Street shops. Every year I say 'it can’t get worse' and then it does.
"It’s getting to the stage where we need to try and do something to save the businesses."
All In One grocery store owner Naveed Ahmed added that he has lost about half of his customers.
"When they started, they told us it would be finished in six weeks. It created a lot of problems with our deliveries and other things," he said.
"It’s affected us a lot. Some customers have no car and are walking but for people with cars, they’re not coming. My deliveries are also affected; if there is a delivery, it’s a nightmare for us.
"Big lorries or big deliveries we are now doing with a small car and there has been a dramatic drop in our income. I don’t know yet but we’ll see in a couple of months how bad it is but I would say we’ve lost about 50 per cent of business.
"I don’t know what the answer will be. They are not even sure if they’ll finish in June, we’ve just been told summer.
"It’s very stressful. This part of High Street was already suffering, now it is completely dead."
Scottish Water said they have implemented mitigation measures to help support businesses in the area
Georgina Reid, Scottish Water’s corporate affairs manager in the west, said: “It’s vitally important that we are as honest as we can be with our customers about timescales and, unfortunately, the reality is that our main contractors George Leslie Ltd have come across several challenges as these works have unfolded in High Street.
“There are issues which were completely unforeseen and could not have been established until we began digging. Uncharted services, remnants of old worksites that predate modern records and tricky ground conditions are all adding to complications.”
She continued: “We are currently reviewing our work programme so that we can tackle the challenges the team are facing but there is no way we can avoid the longer closure.
"However, we would like to reassure everyone that we will work to expedite the delivery of this project where possible with the aim of re-opening the road sooner if we can.
“We will continue to work with local residents and business owners to help minimise any disruption for the duration of these works. We thank everyone for their patience and understanding throughout.”
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