BUSINESSES on the Westover Trading Estate in Langport have been badly hit by flooding from the River Parrett.

Water started spilling onto the estate during the county-wide floods and some businesses were cut off.

Richard White, who has been running Langport Motor Company since September, said he was having to turn customers away.

He said: “It is a total nightmare – I just have to hope that the water goes soon and that I haven’t lost too many customers.

"People can’t get across the water, so we can’t fix their cars – we were ticking over nicely until this happened and we could have really done without it.”

Lloyds Animal Feeds said some water had got into its mill but that it was still trying to run as close to normal as possible.

Ginger Freds dance studio, set to launch in two weeks, was under threat of flooding but owner

Louise Barrett said she was grateful to people for helping to pump water away from the business.

South-West Peninsula Training managed to keep dry, as it is on the edge of the estate, but manager Liz Clark said it had opened up its car park for other traders to use until the flooding disappeared.

Langport town centre was left relatively unscathed by the flooding.

South Somerset District Council provided traders with sandbags because it was feared Bow Street could flood but Langport town councillors said there were no problems.

Town council chairman Chris Osborne said: “If anything, the flooding has done Langport a favour because lots of visitors were coming to have a look at the town.”

Cllr Julia Gadd said: “It was more of a surprise to see Common Moor flood, we are used to Cocklemoor but I just think some people panicked a bit.

"We didn’t have to close at Great Bow Wharf – in fact, we were really busy because of all the visitors.”