A SAT-NAV error at night led a Worcester mother and her son into serious flood danger near Ledbury.

The woman and her ten year old son had to be rescued by firefighters from a rapidly flooding Hollow Lane, at Staplow, shortly after 8pm at Saturday, February 6, in total darkness

The flooding, which brought up to 2ft of water to Hollow Lane to the north of Ledbury, took place because of the rural lane's proximity to a stream and a stretch of disused canal.

On a night of heavy downpours, which saw other incidents of flooding along the nearby Bosbury Road, the rescue operation was co-ordinated by Ledbury's watch commander, Keith Wildig, who said of the mother and child: "They took a wrong turn with the sat-nav and ended up in flood water.

"It could have been a nasty situation; there was a potential for that, if they had gone further into the water."

At the time the emergency services were called, the car was filling up with water; but the mother and child felt unable or unwilling to get out.

The situation was considered to be so serious, at its height the boat crews of the Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service were on their way from both Worcester and Hereford.

But they were stood down, and the actual rescue of the mother and child, who have not been named, was carried out by the First Response water rescue team, from Malvern.

They waded out to the car, which was filling up with water, and moved the woman and child to safety with the use of inflatable rafts.

The whole operation too just under 50 minutes, and there were ten firefighters on the scene throughout, including the Ledbury and Malvern crews.

Mr Wildig said the mother and child seemed "concerned but not frightened" during their flood ordeal.

Before attending the Hollow Lane incident on Saturday, Mr Wildig said the Ledbury crew had attended a false alarm at Fromes Hill, and had driven through at least two areas of flooding on the Ledbury to Bosbury road.

"It was a busy evening," he said.

Hollow Lane was closed by police, because of the flooding.

It is not the first time recently that people have had to be rescued from a car due to flooding near Ledbury.

On January 3, three people including a child were rescued from a flooding Rhea Lane, also to the north of Ledbury, and also in darkness.