A PETROL station owner fears he could lose thousands of pounds of trade due to work repairing a medieval wall.

A one-way system is in place in Mersea Road while restoration work is carried out on the wall, which once marked the boundaries of St John’s Abbey.

The northbound lane was closed off last week and will remain shut until the end of May while workmen for developers, Taylor Wimpey, repair and stabilise the wall, which dates back to the 13th century.

But Manickam Anbarasan, of the Britannia Service Station, in Mersea Road, said his petrol sales halved on the day the work began.

Northbound traffic is being diverted along Napier Road, Circular Road West and Butt Road into Colchester.

He said: “I usually sell 3,200 litres a day. Now I’m selling 1,700 litres. I can’t survive on that for 16 weeks.” He fears he could lose as much as £128,000 if trade continued to drop off.

Dan Pole, a Taylor Wimpey spokesman, said developers had visited the affected traders to discuss their concerns.

He added: “We are doing all we can to keep disruption to a minimum during the essential restoration work on St John’s Abbey wall. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to local businesses.”