HASLEMERE firefighters were called out to help rescue a motorist stranded in a flood near The Lickfold Inn last week.

A four-man crew and the town pump joined a retained crew from Midhurst, who were called out to Highstead Lane at 11.10am.

West Sussex and Surrey fire and rescue services worked together to rescue the driver from his vehicle.

Highstead Lane remained impassable until the late afternoon after the River Lod burst its banks.

Lickfold Inn landlord Chris Leckie said the floodwater was “lapping at the walls” outside. But it remained business as usual at the pub, which hosted a carols concert on Christmas Eve, over a weekend of heavy rain.

A West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said on December 19: “With further bad weather forecast into the weekend, we urge drivers to take extra care in these conditions, and not to chance their luck with floodwater.”

A Haslemere Fire Station spokesman added: “A motorist tried to drive through a flooded road near The Lickfold Inn and got stuck.

“We helped the Midhurst crew to pull him out.”

The Met Office issued a yellow rain warning for Surrey and the south east until Sunday (December 22), with multiple flood alerts for rivers.

A landslip at around 8.30am on December 20 at St Catherine’s Tunnel just south of Guildford Station blocked all lines to Portsmouth and Gatwick Airport.

Services were cancelled, delayed or revised into the evening, with trains between Portsmouth and Waterloo diverted via Basingstoke, or run between Waterloo and Guildford, or between Portsmouth and Haslemere. Replacement buses ran between Haslemere and Guildford.