More floods in Staffordshire after relentless rain

Torrential downpours caused chaos across Staffordshire, with a petrol station flooded, a major event relocated and a bus driver rescued from the waters.

The Shell garage in Sandon Road, Stafford, has been unable to sell fuel to customers since Friday after its forecourt became submerged

Staff are still manning the shop but say they have been waiting for engineers to check equipment before the station can fully reopen.

Sales assistant Anton Jayakody said: "The station had to shut on Friday because of flooding. The water was a few feet deep.

"At the moment the forecourt is shut and we are not selling fuel but the shop is open. We've lost business because of it.

"We are still waiting for engineers to check pumps and tanks."

It comes as new pictures emerged showing the dramatic rescue of a bus driver in Gayton during the heavy downpours on Friday.

A bus and a car were submerged in water in Wadden Lane and a water rescue unit from Newcastle-under-Lyme was sent to rescue the male drivers of both vehicles during the afternoon.

Roads flooded when a nearby stream burst its banks and firefighters claimed the depth of the water had reached 5ft in places. Heavy rainfall also caused a party in the park event to move into Stafford town centre yesterday.

The Stafford Borough Council-organised event was scheduled to take place at Victoria Park but the activities were moved to Market Square.

Jugglers, children's rides and an appearance from Shaun the Sheep kept hundreds of visitors entertained. Youngsters also enjoyed a bouncy castle, obstacle course, dance mats and face painting.

Councillor Mike Smith, Stafford Borough Council's leisure chief, said: "It was a sunny afternoon. The weather was a lot better than anyone expected. It was moved to the town centre to avoid the wet grass.

"There were huge crowds. The queues were 50 deep to see Shaun the Sheep.

"There must have been a good thousand or more people in Market Square. It's an annual event and it's always very popular."

Meanwhile, Lichfield Fuse Festival, which ran from Friday to yesterday, was forced to move to another pitch on Beacon Park because of sodden grounds. Organisers had been unsure whether or not to cancel the event last week because of bad weather but decided to continue with preparations.

The free arts festival drew in crowds of around 10,000 people, around 8,000 fewer than last year.

In Walsall, a picnic event at Streetly's Blackwood Park scheduled to take place on Saturday was cancelled. Pelsall Carnival still went ahead but had to scale back because of wet grounds.

To see a seven-day weather forecast for the West Midlands and Staffordshire click here.