Ex-owner says chippie could have collapsed

A now-demolished chip shop in the Black Country was lucky not to have been "swallowed up" by underground mineshafts, its former owner has said.

Residents and business owners spent years living and working in four Sandwell streets without knowing they were above disused pit workings.

The buildings in Edith Street, Chapman Street, Wesley Street and Allen Street in West Bromwich have now been flattened but investigations have since revealed three disused shafts. The roads will now have to be closed for five months from July 25 so the underground workings can be filled in and made safe for future developments.

Hermes Kafetzis ran his fish and chip shop in Chapman Street for 20 years before its demolition in 2007.

He said he did not know anything about the mine shafts but felt he should have been made aware at the time. "I wouldn't have wanted to have been there if it had suddenly decided it was going to swallow up the land above," he said.

He added it was "very worrying" to have been working above a mine shaft for all those years without knowing.

The 60-year-old father-of-four was embroiled in a two year battle with Sandwell Council over a compulsory purchase order on his shop before it was flattened.

He now runs a new takeaway in Whitehall Road, Greets Green.