Oxfordshire County Council said it will be “setting out an action plan” after the pump equipment underneath a bridge in Didcot failed again and left the road flooded.

Marsh Lane, which runs underneath Marsh Railway Bridge, was closed on Friday evening as heavy pools of water prevented cars from passing through.

It was not re-opened until Saturday afternoon when the fire brigade was able to pump the water into nearby fields.

READ MORE: Major disruption between Didcot Parkway and Oxford

Even on Sunday, cars were still forced to slow because of water beneath the bridge, and traffic was stretched back into the town.

Exceptionally heavy rainfall on Friday, with 25mm of rain falling in a 24-hour period, led to flood alerts and flooding issues across Oxfordshire and the south of England.

Oxford Mail: The fire brigade was able to pump the water into nearby fields on Saturday night The fire brigade was able to pump the water into nearby fields on Saturday night (Image: Nick Hards)

Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for the bridge, said the pump equipment was “not capable of dealing with Friday’s rain.”

This is despite the council confirming it had repaired the pump equipment on March 24 following a similar incident of flooding underneath Marsh Bridge

A spokesman said: “Although the Marsh Lane pump equipment was recently repaired, it failed, and was not capable of dealing with Friday’s rain.

“We believe this may be due to a secondary issue with built-up silt in the drainage system.

“We have attended at least once and need further attendance to jet this system.

“A replacement pump equipment has now been ordered and we will be setting out an action plan to resolve this matter.”

Two weeks ago, when asked about the issue, county councillor David Rouane said: “We report it, they come out with their spanner they fix it, and then it fails again.”