A local businessman slammed customs officials yesterday for leaving him in the lurch when they left the Hamilton docks early.

The man, who did not want to be identified, said customs officials told him late in the afternoon that since Government offices were closed and no other civil servants were working, neither would they.

He claimed the customs officers then left, leaving a line of angry truckers behind ? all waiting to remove ?cleared? containers from the docks.

?This is appalling when we?re supposed to be working together in a crisis!? he said.

A Department of Communication and Information spokesperson said Government offices were officially closed.

?Customs officers at the docks in Hamilton started work at 7.30 a.m. All containers that were requested from customers were released from the docks,? the spokesperson said. ?At 2.30 p.m. Steverdoring Services informed customers that eight containers were left to be delivered, which was done. At approximately 3.00 p.m. customs officers, who normally close at 4.p.m., were allowed to leave.?

When contacted last night, Paul Rodrigues of Rodrigues Trucking agreed with the other trucker, and said that at 2 p.m. he too was told by security personnel at the docks that the docks were closed.

?We had a major catastrophe on Thursday and everybody is in a crisis situation. The Island needs to pull together,? Mr. Rodrigues said.

He added: ?It could have been a computer problem but there could be millions of reason why Customs weren?t open.?

Toby Kempe of Bermuda Forwarders said his company could not gain entry to the docks from approximately 9.30 p.m. yesterday and he believed Customs was closed all day.

?There could have been a problem with electricity, without electricity what could they do? Yelling at people can?t help and it may not be a Customs problem. Hopefully power will be restored soon.?