A BARNSLEY woman has had to close down her hair salon after ten years in business after a cannabis farm was found in a flat upstairs - much to her dismay.
Biba Saxton, of Royston, has owned and run Biba Hair on Doncaster Road for the last decade.
However, when she arrived at work last Wednesday she was met with the pavement outside her salon completely dug up and no electric to open the shutters.
She later found out that a cannabis farm - the second in three years - was found in an adjoining flat upstairs by police the night before.
She told the Chronicle: “The shutter on the shop is electric and it just wouldn’t go up.
“I rang Northern Powergrid who had dug up the pavement who told me that they’d cut the main power supply.
The police had been out on the Tuesday and they’d raided the flat upstairs and found an illegal cannabis farm.
“They’d bypassed all the power supply and I’m connected to the main one so it had been cut off.”
When Biba asked if the power could be turned back on, she was told it would take weeks - maybe even months - and cost thousands of pounds, something she says the landlord is unable to make work.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she added.
“They’d just bypassed everything.
“Northern Powergrid said that there was no chance that they’d be able to get it back up.
“The only way to do it was to get the salon on its own meter and that would mean a full re-fit.
“The landlord has been wanting to sell anyway so there was no way that they were going to pay for it.
“It’s the second time there’s been an illegal cannabis farm in those flats.”
As a result, Biba has had to leave the salon she’s worked so hard for due to the criminal activity of others.
Thankfully she’s managed to rent a chair at a salon across the road called Lavish Hair.
She said: “I’ve been here at this salon for ten years.
“It’s just all come out of nowhere - it’s completely unexpected.
“We thought everything was hunky-dory coming into work and then this has happened.”
A police spokesperson told the Chronicle: “On January 20 a warrant was executed by the immigration service on Doncaster Road in Barnsley.
“Upon entry, a suspected cannabis grow was found.
“Our officers attended and enquiries remain ongoing.”
