A BLACKBURN businessman has hit out after his cash and carry was flooded for the second time in a fortnight.

Ali Insar, manager at AJ Wholesale Cash and Carry in Dickens Street, Audley, blamed United Utilities after goods at his warehouse were destroyed following heavy rain on Thursday night.

The store has suffered a litany of flooding problems in the past year, but the water supplier denied it was to blame.

Mr Insar, who has managed the store for seven years, said recent work to fix a sewer had not prevented the flooding.

He said: “It has been an ongoing problem for a number of years. They’ve spent millions of pounds on the road outside to fix it but it hasn’t helped us.

“There is a rain water pipe which they haven’t connected properly. When they came out to correct it, they forgot to re-attach it properly.

“They only finished the most recent work two days ago and here we are again with the same problem.”

Mr Insar, 38, said a number of his customers had chosen to shop elsewhere because of the frequent disruption to the business.

He added: “I’m not sure how much longer we can go on. It’s becoming an almost daily occurence. We have lost a number of customers because when people change their shopping habits, they dont come back. We are fed up.”

Several premises in Dickens Street were hit by four deluges in two months last October and November, prompting Blackburn MP Jack Straw to meet with United Utilities to discuss the matter.

A United Utilities spokesman said: “We’re aware this property has suffered further internal flooding.

“We have carried out a number of activities on our sewer network to make sure this is not causing the issue.

“Our network engineer will continue to work with this business to help them identify the source, so this issue can be resolved once and for all.”