A WORCESTERSHIRE journalist and his family were caught up in the unfolding nightmare as storms lashed the country and narrowly avoided spending the night in the open with thousands of other stranded drivers.

Worcester News columnist John Phillpott was travelling back to Worcester with his wife and two daughters after attending a degree ceremony at Bath University.

"We were sitting in the marquee waiting for younger daughter Alice to pick up her degree certificate," said Mr Phillpott, of The Hill Avenue, Worcester.

"The rain was coming down in buckets and I thought we might have a few problems with localised flooding around Tewkesbury - but nothing could prepare us for what we would witness a few hours later."

The family set off from Bath about 6 o'clock and soon found themselves stuck in tailbacks.

"It got worse and worse and soon came to resemble a disaster movie. As night came down - by this time we'd been on the motorway for more than four hours - cars were breaking down and people were lining the embankments like refugees from a war zone.

"Most of the vehicles were overheating because of the stop-go nature of the gridlocks.

"The emergency services were doing their best but this was taking on all the aspects of a major disaster. Out of desperation, we came off the motorway at Gloucester but that was a really bad move - the A38 was closed and we resigned ourselves to spending the night in the car.

"But luckily, we found a policeman who directed us to a hotel and we just got there before the petrol ran out. The foyer was packed with people and we were really lucky to get a room.

"We got back to Worcester all right in Saturday but there were still many vehicles lining the hard shoulder."