A man has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and dangerous driving after a tractor was filmed driving through a flooded high street during Storm Bert.
The 57-year-old’s arrest followed an incident in Tenbury Wells town centre, in Worchester, on Monday.
Video footage, widely shared on social media, caught the moment a tractor’s wake slammed into shops and homes after it was driven through the flooded street.
West Mercia Police said the suspect has been released on bail while enquiries into the incident continue.
In a statement, Inspector Dave Wise, who leads the safer neighbourhood team in Tenbury Wells, said: ‘I’d like to thank everyone who brought this incident to our attention, and to the local community for their co-operation and support yesterday while we carried out initial enquiries.
‘I understand the upset and anger that the incident caused, and I hope that the arrest we made yesterday evening offers reassurance that we are actively investigating it.
‘Officers will continue to be out and about in Tenbury in the coming days to assist the local community and our partner agencies with recovery efforts following the flooding.’
Locals were left livid and labelled the inconsiderate driver a ‘t***er’ for causing a torrent of brown water to drench businesses in the town.
This is the moment a tractor driver was seen motoring through a flooded street in Tenbury Wells
Locals were left livid, with video footage of the incident capturing torrents of brown water drenching buildings in the flooded high street
The town was left submerged when the nearby Kyre Brook rose and caused a wall to collapse
Owners had valiantly fought to keep the waters out of their shops but saw their hard work wiped out in an instant with one person saying he had ‘bankrupted Tenbury’.
The town was left submerged earlier when the nearby Kyre Brook rose and caused a wall to collapse amid Storm Bert which has devastated large parts of Britain.
The clip shows a green tractor come around a corner and motor down the middle of the town centre.
Wave after wave of filthy floodwater is seen to then smash against the buildings, reportedly causing doors and windows to break, but the driver appears to show no care as the farm vehicle continues to bounce along the street.
At one point the tractor starts to slow down outside a shop causing the water to slosh over the front of the building.
This is breaking new story, updates to follow.