Business battling against the council (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Business battling against the council

9:59am Thursday 26th August 2010 in

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I run a small vehicle repair workshop in Widnes and sometimes things can get quite tough in these difficult times.

The biggest problem running a small business is making sure you pay your overheads at the end of each month. One of the largest of these is business rates that you pay to the borough council.

The same council has its own vehicle repair workshops that were originally for repairing council vehicles and doing taxi MOTs, but now they can do servicing, repairs, MOTs etc for the general public. This means that they can take work from me and any other business ratepayer in the motor trade.

If a private-owned workshop opens near me I have to be better than them and they still have the same issues to make a living as I do.

Therefore, don’t you think it would be a bit of an insult if I had to pay them to do battle with me?

Is this wrong or is it just me?

PHIL WEBSTER Widnes