REPEATED flooding in the region means Oxfordshire firms should protect systems ready for winter, according to an Abingdon firm.

Riverbank IT Management claims small and medium-size businesses have not learned lessons from previous floods.

In a recent survey of 135 managers, it found just one in six had a back-up and disaster-recovery plan to protect data.

Two fifths questioned said they didn’t have resources to plan for a disaster.

Riverbank IT director Dr Malcolm Newdick said: “Despite concerns about lost data, downtime, recovery costs and negative public relations associated with an IT disaster, less than one fifth of SME businesses in the south east are prepared for what could lay ahead.”