A Southampton garage owner says he fears for the future of his workshop after flooding caused by Storm Pierrick.
Gary Hocking, owner of Express MOT, arrived on Tuesday morning to find his equipment underwater.
The Daily Echo is reporting that this is the fourth time the garage has flooded in 12 years. More concerning for the owner is the fact that the garage isn’t covered by insurance due to it being in a flood zone.
This is likely to leave the business up to £90,000 out of pocket.
Gary Hocking said: “I am gutted. It wasn’t that the flooding was worse than before, it was that we couldn’t prepare for it because we didn’t know.
“Normally we would raise the MOT lifts and unplug the electrics, but we didn’t last night. Everything was floating – even the things that you wouldn’t expect to float.
“The water was about a foot high which meant all the plug sockets were wet as well as the electrics like the two areas of the workshop which have the MOT lifts.
“That’s the most expensive part. What I am dreading the most is when the engineer comes around, if he tells me that everything in the MOT equipment needs replacing, that will cost around £90,000 – and the insurance has said they won’t cover it.
“I am praying that he can fix some of it.”
“It’s definitely putting us at risk. It’s not just that we’re paying for the repairs, but also we still have bills to pay at work and at home, and wages to pay to my children.”
Source: Daily Echo
