A HIGH river level that breached a pump activation pump contributed to the flooding of a Worcestershire pub.

The Swan Hotel pub in Upton-Upon-Severn was left submerged in five to six metres of water on the morning of Saturday, March 30.

This had threatened to leave the pub closed for the foreseeable future due to the significance of the flooding.

But, in the space of 12 hours, the pub re-opened its doors to customers after staff and members of the community rallied together in a clean up operation.

Elliot Fryatt, one of the staff at the Swan Hotel, said: "The re-opening went absolutely fine. We were back open at around 6-6.30pm.”

A faulty pump was blamed for the incident, which was later found to have suffered a cut - causing the equipment brought by Severn Trent to not work properly.

Luke Sturman, landlord at The Swan Hotel, said a "catalogue of errors" by Severn Trent had caused the events to unfold.

The water supply firm said the River Severn's unexpected high levels following heavy rainfall exceeded the activation point for its pump, leading to water flooding Waterside Road where the pub is situated.

A Severn Trent spokesperson said: “We are very sorry The Swan Hotel flooded after exceptional rainfall led to the River Severn rising to unexpectedly high levels.

“As part of the multi-agency flood defence team, we supply a portable pump at the site to overpump river water overwhelming our network to the other side of the permanent flood defences.

“The latest data we received from the Environment Agency on Thursday evening stated the river level would not breach 4.2m, below the 4.5m activation point for our pump.

"Sadly, the torrential rainfall saw it hit 4.7m, although that level is now receding.

“After receiving a call from the customer, teams were despatched to the site along with a portable pump to help the situation.

"We will continue to offer the customer help and support so they can get back to normal as soon as possible and will continue to work closely with the Environment Agency to ensure correct management of situations like this in the future.”