Traders along one of the Black Country’s major routes today told how takings have plunged by half since six-weeks of roadworks started.

The busy Penn Road in Wolverhampton was this week made one-way for a stretch outside the shopping precinct, which runs along the A449 from its junction with Coalway Avenue towards Wombourne.

Concerned traders say the six-week, £4 million Severn Trent project to replace water mains could leave them struggling to make ends meet with trade already having dropped off dramatically.

Motorists travelling from the city centre are being diverted down Coalway Road and then Warstones Road, rejoining the A449 at the Lloyd Hill roundabout having bypassed the shops.

A 200-metre section of Goldthorn Hill, between Penn Road and Rookery Lane, has also become one-way.

Paul Chand, who runs Paul’s Superstore with his father Tek, and Bally Sharma, owner of Penn News, said they expected trade to fall by 50 per cent on this time last year.

Father-of-three Mr Chand, aged 42, said: “It is just the initial stages and it is already affecting us – quite possibly sales could drop by half.

“If people see lots of obstructions they tend to avoid them and take a different route. It will be a big problem for us if that alternative route becomes a permanent route. There is no compensation for a lost customer.”

Mrs Sharma, a 42-year-old mother-of-four, added: “During the holidays last year it was slow, but never this slow. We are down at least 50 per cent.”

Butcher Bob Rogers, aged 62, says Bridgwater Butchers is reducing orders of stock to deal with a drop in custom of around 25 per cent.

He said: “They don’t take 25 per cent off your rates for the inconvenience though do they? It’s not doing us any favours. Trade is bad enough at the moment.”