UPTON could soon have its own emergency rescue service to cope with future floods.

And it looks as though the town will ask the Fire Brigade to return the Upton Community Rescue Boat.

The move follows problems in the past two months, when use of the boat to help flood victims was at the centre of controversy, leading to the resignation last week of retained firefighter Dave Walker.

The Fire Brigade policy is that the boat should only be used for 'official' 999 emergencies.

Town mayor Ernie Holder said Sub Officer Walker's shock resignation has reverberated throughout the district and brought about widespread consternation.

"Sir Michael Spicer even drove up specially from the House of Commons on hearing the news," he told this week's council meeting.

Coun Holder said the idea of forming an Upton branch of an existing rescue organisation was a very exciting prospect currently being explored.

"We would have a rescue boat available to us and that might make it possible for us to retain the knowledge, skills and services of Dave Walker and his team, who have served Upton so well in the past," he said.

It was Sub Officer Walker who started the fund to get a rescue boat for Upton after the 1998 Easter floods, when fire crews had to wade into flood water wearing heavy gear.

In November 1998, Upton couple Ruth and Lambert Bignell gave a boat to the Upton Community Rescue Boat Fund and more than £8,000 raised by townspeople was used to refurbish and equip it, buy special wet suits and provide training for the crew. Fundraising continues, to pay for the boat's maintenance.

Mr Bignell said they were concerned that "interference by the hierarchy of Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade" had curtailed its use. He said they had donated it for rescue purposes in the Upton area.

"No specific reference was made to 999 emergencies, although we appreciate that these must take priority," he said. "It has given us the greatest pleasure that the boat, over the past two months, has been widely used to relieve the distress of people in Upton, be they elderly, infirm or youngsters.

"That's exactly as we intended and long may it continue, whether the boat is administered by the Fire Brigade or another organisations."

Deputy Chief Fire Officer David Archer said Upton had bought the boat and asked the fire service to crew and operate it. If the town felt it could provide its own rescue service the boat could be released back to Upton.

"We want to support the town in doing what it thinks is best," said Mr Archer, who is due to meet town councillors on January 9.

Meanwhile, the front page of last week's Malvern Gazette has been sent to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott by district councillor Eric White.

He has asked for Mr Prescott's comments on the £200-a-day charge made for the Territorial Army shuttle service in Upton during the floods.