A PENSIONER is pleading for more urgency from Worcestershire's highway authority after a drainage problem caused his home to be flooded for the fourth time in 18 months.

Ray Kilgour, 78, of Princess Way, woke up on Monday morning to seven inches of water surrounding the main part of his house. It was the fourth time in 18 months and the second in just three weeks he had to fight off the water to stop his house from flooding.

Ward councillor John Thomas, of Independent Community and Health Concern, said Worcestershire Highways had been contacted about the problem - which is due to an inadequate draining system in the cul-de-sac at the bottom of the road where Mr Kilgour and wife Hillary, 75, live - several times, adding: "It should have been sorted by now." He said Mr Kilgour's situation was "the worst" but the issues also affected three other properties.

Mr Kilgour said he had previously been told work to fix the drainage system would begin in March but that had not happened.

The former Army serviceman said: "It has been a real mess. I had already been flooded three times and woke up on Monday to seven inches of water. It comes down my drive, down the side of my house at the gate and right up to the doorstep. I saved it from coming into my house [on Monday].

"The water comes through my garage and into the downstairs toilet and the corridor to the toilet. I have had to buy a new dishwasher, we have had to get another load of sandbags and I have had to stop it from getting into my kitchen, where we have had £7,000 of [unrelated] work done. I am angry."

A spokesman for Worcestershire County Council said work on the drainage system would start soon. "We are aware of the issues that Mr Kilgour has raised," he added. "We are working towards a package of measures that will aim to resolve the issues experienced in Princess Way and we are looking to start work as soon as is practicable."

Mr Thomas said: "Water is not draining away at the top of Princess Way and it is running down the road itself and Mr Kilgour lives in a cul-de-sac at the end, where the water is running into.

"He lives at the lower end of the road and has been suffering flash floods. It affects about four properties - the houses are below the level of the road and their driveways run down and they have got low kerbs.

"I have got the county council highways involved to get all the drainage sorted out and, hopefully, it will get sorted - the sooner the better."