Kitty Wong, Eglal Gomaa and Keir Godfrey, business owners in Seven Sisters Road

DAYS before time ran out for people to have their say on a controversial cycle route in Holloway, Transport for London refused to show up to a meeting with affected businesses ­– including one that has already closed.

The cycle route, part of Cycleway 50, runs between Holloway Road and Finsbury Park, with a segregated bike lane on the right hand side of Seven Sisters Road proving to be the most disruptive section for businesses there.

Eglal Gomaa of the Nag’s Head Traders Association had organised a meeting between TfL and other business owners on last Monday.

She said she was forced to close her popular cafe, Girasole, in Seven Sisters Road earlier this year, and she believes it was the cycle lane that caused her sales to plummet.

“I lost everything. All my savings, everything, because of something that has nothing to do with me,” she said.

“They [TfL] killed me. I want them to repay me all the money that I have lost. I want more cycling, but the execution of this cycle lane is wrong,” she said.

Ms Gomaa informed TfL three days prior to the meeting that a journalist from the Tribune would be attending.

A section of the route currently closed

Then, hours before the meeting was due to start, TfL’s representative said that, because of the press presence, they would not be able to attend.

This is the second time TfL has cancelled a meeting with Ms Gomaa after learning that media would be there.

The cycleway in Seven Sisters Road was built last year without consulting with the local community, which is allowed via an Experimental Traffic Order (ETRO).

ETROs make it legal for TfL to make temporary changes to the road network and then consult with the public up to 18 months after a scheme has already been built, to determine whether it should be made permanent.

Ms Gomaa has launched a petition, which has 865 signatures at the time of writing, calling on TfL to move the cycle lane to the other side of Seven Sisters Road.

But business owners have little faith that their concerns will be taken on board.

Keir Godfrey, whose shop fitting business has been in Seven Sisters Road since 1963, said: “If you do away with local businesses, that is when we lose our community.

“The sad thing is, they [TfL] will just do what they want. We won’t be listened to.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “We welcome the opinions of local businesses and regularly meet with local residents to discuss their concerns to ensure that we are doing everything possible to support them.

“We are currently consulting on whether to amend, retain or remove the trial scheme and we would encourage everyone to respond and have their say.”

Islington’s environment chief Labour councillor Rowena Champion said: “The council has supported TfL with their engagement with local communities, local business groups and individual businesses and we have also lobbied to introduce additional measures which support local people and businesses to benefit from the scheme.”