BUSINESSES and market traders in Barking town centre are losing customers as shoppers stay away to avoid the cold temperatures and icy roads.

Stall owners in Barking Market have reported a �dramatic fall in the number of shoppers since the cold weather took hold last week.

Santokh Patel, 65, who owns a clothes stall, said: “The weather has been very bad for business, not only for me but for everyone around here.

“I couldn’t open on Tuesday or Thursday last week because it was so bad.

“The council could do more to help business around here, they need to grit the roads properly and clear the snow away.”

Trader, Shofuil Hussein, 28, agrees: “It’s very cold out here, and the roads are very slippery.”

“The council have done a bit of gritting but not enough, people are worried about slipping on the ice and hurting themselves.”

Shops in the Vicarage Field Shopping Centre, Ripple Road, have also experienced a fall in customers.

The owner of Chinese medicine store �Oriental Healing said: “We’ve barely had any business since the snow �started, and it’s the same for everyone around here.

“The council haven’t done anything since it started, the roads are icy and the heating in the shopping centre doesn’t work, nobody wants to spend time in a cold shopping centre.”

Mehboob Patel, 43, from Ilford, the owner of Meb’s Clothing, believes that the authorities should be better able to cope with the change in weather.

He said: “It’s ridiculous what happens to this �country when it snows.

“In Canada they get temperatures of minus 20 and they can cope with it. Here we get minus 3 and everything comes to a standstill.”

Other shop owners in the centre agree that business is suffering, but deny that freezing �temperatures are entirely to blame.

Carol Babalola, owner of clothing store Fate Xclusive, said: “Of course the snow has affected our �business, but it’s been bad all year.

“Christmas is a very important time of year for �businesses, but it hasn’t picked up yet.”

Gary Kirby, 52, owner of menswear store Size Wise, added: “It’s been really bad for the past year, nobody in the area has any money and so nobody goes shopping.

A council spokesman said: “Around 250 council staff have been out on the streets since the start of the cold snap, spreading around 300 tonnes of grit by hand. It is not possible to clear every single back street and pavement of snow and ice.

“However, we encourage residents and shopkeepers to do their bit by clearing snow from the pavement in front of their properties.”