A FLOODED basement forced Kidderminster College to send hundreds of students home for the day.

Caretakers discovered water a metre deep in the boiler room on Monday morning and called firefighters to the Hoo Road campus at 7.45am.

The deluge - thought to stem from a faulty seal on a pumping unit - shut down the heating and mains water systems and forced the college to close its doors.

A spokesman estimated 600 students were affected.

Kidderminster firefighters spent more than two hours pumping out water into drains in the road.

Sub officer Mick Rowlands blamed a "simple rubber washer" for the disruption.

He added: "It must have been leaking over the weekend."

The college - which will move to a new £9 million town centre building in May - reopened on Tuesday.