I am starting this petition on behalf of all the local businesses around the low fell area. We have been hit badly with the new social distancing laws which no longer allow parking outside any shops on Durham Road as barriers have been put there to allow more space for social distancing. 

I am a staff member at the Vape With Us store on Durham Road and our business has been hit pretty hard. We are now losing customers as a lot of the trade we have is from passers by. We are seriously worried that if this keeps going on in the next few weeks then we may be forced to close the store completely. We are a local business and like many others around the area, we thrive from both local customers and passing trade. As it stands we are only getting local customers and it is very rare if we get any passing trade because they can no longer park outside the shop if they need to quickly pop in for their essentials.

To conclude, we hope we can come to some sort of agreement with Gateshead City Council. We understand the idea behind it and we understand there is still a global pandemic at this current time. A lot of people have been affected by the pandemic and since reopening its already been a challenge to try and pick up where we left off. We were slowly starting to get back to the way things were before lockdown, but now we are making a significant loss and it can't go on much longer. I am sure every local business around the area will agree with us on this matter and we really hope this can be resolved, not just for us, but for every local business that will also be suffering at an already challenging time.