A Sinkhole Swallowed Half a Chip Shop's Trade Overnight — And It Could Happen to Any of Us

When a road collapses outside your front door, you don't get a warning. Rudi Miroli, owner of a Scottish chip shop, has watched his turnover drop by 50% since emergency works shut the street. It's a sharp reminder that infrastructure risk is a real business risk — and most small operators aren't covered for it.

Rudi Miroli didn't make a bad business decision. He didn't lose a key member of staff or misjudge a menu change. A hole opened in the road outside his chip shop, the council closed the street, and his trade halved. Just like that. No warning, no compensation, no timeline for when normal service might resume.

The sinkhole — reported by BBC Scotland — forced an emergency road closure that has effectively cut the chip shop off from passing footfall. For a business that runs on walk-in trade, proximity to the pavement isn't a nice-to-have; it's the entire model. Miroli's story is extreme in its speed, but the underlying vulnerability is one that thousands of Scottish SMEs share without ever thinking about it. A burst main, a gas leak, a structural survey on the building next door — any of these can trigger a road closure that quietly bleeds your business dry.

Business interruption insurance exists precisely for this scenario, but here's the uncomfortable truth: most small business owners either don't have it, or have it in a form that excludes third-party infrastructure events like road closures. The Association of British Insurers has consistently flagged that SMEs are significantly underinsured, and the pandemic exposed just how brutally that gap plays out in practice — when businesses discovered their interruption policies didn't cover government-mandated closures either.

Local authorities have limited legal obligation to compensate businesses for losses caused by emergency road works, even when those works drag on for weeks. The Scottish Government's guidance on business support during disruption is useful, and Business Gateway Scotland does offer advisory services for SMEs navigating unexpected crises — but neither replaces income you've already lost. Prevention, or more precisely preparation, is the only lever you actually control.

The Federation of Small Businesses Scotland has repeatedly called for clearer communication protocols between local authorities and affected traders during infrastructure works, and for faster resolution timescales. That advocacy matters. But while the policy argument runs its course, Rudi Miroli is still losing money today. His story is a dry, real-world stress test of what happens when a small business has no buffer, no insurance cover for this scenario, and no alternative route to customers. The sinkhole is the headline. The absence of a contingency plan is the actual problem.

What this means for you: Pull out your business interruption insurance policy today and check specifically whether it covers third-party infrastructure events — road closures, utility works, and emergency cordons not caused by your business. If it doesn't, ask your broker about a 'denial of access' extension; it exists and it's not expensive. While you're at it, think about whether your business could pivot to delivery, click-and-collect, or online orders if your street became inaccessible tomorrow — because 'tomorrow' is exactly how much notice you might get.