A Wickham businessman is demanding that action is taken after he was flooded out for a fourth time.

Ken Ayrton is once again beginning a massive clean-up operation after his Wickham garage was hit by torrential rainwater, causing thousands of pounds of damage.

After finding himself wading in 3ft of floodwater at Forge Garage, Fareham Road, of which he is a director, Mr Ayrton, 61, is urging authorities to help stop it happening again.

He fears it won't be the last time he suffers unless proper storm drainage is provided for the business, which lies in a flood risk area next to the River Meon at the lowest part of the valley.

But despite complaints to the local authority, Mr Ayrton claims no one wants to know.

He said: "I am furious about this. It just keeps on happening. The village has changed so much over the last few years, with new housing going up.

"Ditches that used to drain off surface run-off have been filled in and it has nowhere to go now. It rolls down the hill and across the road on to our forecourt. Something needs to be done. We can't go on like this."

A piece of garage equipment worth £5,000 used to test brakes was damaged and the garage has lost MoT trade for at least two days.

In total Mr Ayrton estimates the latest flood will cost the garage up to £7,000.

"What we need are bigger storm drains. The drains in front of the garage just can't cope with the water that rolls down into them from Wickham Square," he said.Winchester City Council say that maintaining drains is not their responsibility but that they do help flood victims by supplying sandbags.

The Environment Agency monitors the area because it is registered as a moderate flood zone, but only in relation to flooding caused by rivers.

Responsibility for flooding by surface drain water lies with Hampshire County Council.

A spokesman said: "As a result of this we are going to send out engineers to have a look at the area and carry out any action that needs to be taken.

"We have been cleaning out ditches, but its up to local landowners to keep their ditches clean as well."