{"id":137848,"date":"2025-11-16T12:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/137848\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T12:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T12:16:10","slug":"flood-hit-shop-issues-closure-warning-after-drain-covered-in-tarmac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/137848\/","title":{"rendered":"Flood-hit shop issues closure warning after drain covered in tarmac"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan GeddesGlasgow and west reporter<\/p>\n

\"Geraldo'sGeraldo’s<\/p>\n

Geraldo’s has been a fixture in Largs for about 25 years<\/p>\n

The owner of a seaside town shop fears she will have to “throw in the towel” on her business over flooding issues triggered when a nearby storm drain was covered in tarmac.<\/p>\n

Over the past three years any sort of heavy downpour brings water running from the A78 road directly into Geraldo’s on Main Street, Largs.<\/p>\n

Toni Dawson has run the tourist shop for about 25 years but is unsure how much longer she can continue unless a solution is found.<\/p>\n

Ms Dawson said the issue dates back to resurfacing work which was carried out by road maintenance company Amey. The firm said it was urgently seeking a solution. <\/p>\n

Ms Dawson sells artisan ice cream, chocolates and gifts from the shop, which she set up with her mother.<\/p>\n

After starting the business, she had flooding difficulties early on caused by the premises being so near the seafront. <\/p>\n

Those problems stopped once the nearby sea wall defences were improved.<\/p>\n

But since the road was resurfaced in late 2021, the shop has faced constant issues triggered by extreme weather.<\/p>\n

\"ToniToni Dawson<\/p>\n

Toni Dawson said the constant flooding concerns have exhausted her<\/p>\n

Ms Dawson told BBC Scotland News: “I’m losing sleep over this and worrying that I’m going to walk into a flooded shop every time it has rained badly.<\/p>\n

“The resurfacing went over several storm drains, including one directly outside my shop door. <\/p>\n

“Ever since then heavy rainfall is enough to create a huge puddle on the pavement at the shop door and the water just runs straight into the shop.<\/p>\n

“It’s happened three times in the last year alone and these aren’t cases where there have been flood alerts<\/a>, or warnings in advance.” <\/p>\n

Last Tuesday she arrived at work to find the whole shop “soaking again”.<\/p>\n

In a letter to North Ayrshire Council, Amey and Transport Scotland, Ms Dawson said she had never been as close to “throwing in the towel” as in recent months.<\/p>\n

\"Geraldo'sGeraldo’s<\/p>\n

The shop is constantly forced to use sandbags in case of rain<\/p>\n

Staff now remove stock off the floor every night and place sandbags down in the hope it will prevent possible damage.<\/p>\n

Ms Dawson said she had spoken to an Amey employee when they were visiting the scene, but had been told to contact Transport Scotland.<\/p>\n

The BBC contacted Transport Scotland, North Ayrshire Council and Amey, who said they would try and resolve the issue.”<\/p>\n

An Amey spokesperson said: “Following a site meeting, a Category 1 repair was raised to reinstate the affected gully, and this has now been issued to our operations team for completion as a priority. <\/p>\n

“In addition, a further gully on the adjacent footpath is being inspected as part of our scheduled route inspection, and will be cleared if required.<\/p>\n

“We appreciate the impact that flooding can have on road users and local residents, and we are continuing to monitor the area closely while works progress. <\/p>\n

“Our priority is to ensure the drainage system is functioning effectively to reduce the risk of further surface water issues.”<\/p>\n

Both the council and Transport Scotland confirmed the road was the responsibility of Amey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonathan GeddesGlasgow and west reporter Geraldo’s Geraldo’s has been a fixture in Largs for about 25 years The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-137848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}