Threats force car wash to close

An illegal hand car wash in Wolverhampton has closed down after the city council threatened to prosecute the owners.

The popular car wash at the junction of Penn Road and Goldthorn Hill has now shut for good after operating for three years without permission from the authority.

Padr Khan, aged 27, who co-owns the business, today told the Express & Star he was “gutted” and that he ignored council rules because he knew of other car washes operating illegally in the city.

The business shut on Monday.

“We’ve closed it down now, and myself and the other co-owner are going to have to find other jobs,” Mr Khan said.

“We kept it open, despite what the council said, because we know of other car washes operating without permission and didn’t think it was fair that we should close.

“I want the council to treat us as they treat others.

“All I have ever done is compare our location to that of other car washes in Wolverhampton. We were in a good location and had regular customers.

“We went down to the council on Tuesday to tell them we are no longer operating on the site, but we still think it is unfair that we had to close.

“It’s not acceptable that the council should put this kind of pressure on us, especially when we had lots of customers and were not doing any harm to anyone.”

Drivers were regularly seen queuing right around the block to get their cars scrubbed clean without realising the owners had no permission to operate.

Council enforcement officers first wrote to the car wash in November 2005 asking for it to be closed down, only for the owners to ask for retrospective planning permission.

The application was turned down in January last year, and the council again asked for it to close.

At the start of the month the Express & Star revealed the owners were facing prosecution for ignoring the requests.

Enforcement officers have not been to the site since the prosecution notice was approved at the start of the year, but the city council now say officers will make a fresh visit this week to ensure it remains closed.

Tim Clark, spokesman for Wolverhampton City Council, said: “An enforcement officer will be making a visit to the site this week.”