I REMEMBER very clearly back in 1947 when the Abingdon Road flooded and the buses stopped running down to Canning Crescent which in those days was the terminus.

Oxford City Council put on special open-back vehicles with bench seats and a wooden ladder on the back for people to climb up and be taken to and from the city to Canning Crescent.

My father was one of the drivers for the council that operated one of these vehicles.

In those days there were floodplains in south Oxford that dealt with much of the flood water.

Since the ’60s Oxford City Council has filled, with refuse, firstly Meadow Lane and then both sides of Abingdon Road where now stands the park and ride. The same was done with both sides of Kennington Lane and behind the back of Wytham Street, entering from where Go Outdoors is.

I worked for Oxford City Council from 1961-1980 and, along with others, dumped thousands of tons of refuse in all of the above fields.

No one needs to be clever to know that if you take away these floodplains then the water has to go somewhere else and this is shown today in Abingdon Road.

During those years, the City Cleansing Department had three vehicles that went around clearing drains, but sadly, they are not to be seen today in our streets. With this and the rivers and streams carrying a lot of silt, it makes them not so deep. The water has to go somewhere and the residents of south Oxford know only too well what this means.

Botley Road area residents and Osney residents also have this problem to contend with so there’s not much to look forward to each year with this on their minds. The powers that be didn’t give any thought in past days to what might happen in the future.

With these premises so vulnerable, who would want to buy a property in this area and if they did, they may find it hard to get insurance.

COLIN SMITH George Moore Close Oxford