I would like to respond to the letter from a Martinstown resident on Friday, July 13, concerning the recent flooding and his “disgust” at drivers in the village. 


We were returning to Dorchester and drove down from Hardy's Monument into Martinstown, the road leading to the A35 was closed with a police sign and it wasn't until we had turned right into the village that someone told us the road out had also been closed off. 


The street was flooded with at least a half foot of water and we could see that the houses on the main street were having to deal with the terrible effects of this. 


However, we had no choice but to drive into the village and turn around. By now there was a small convoy of motorists, the ones I spoke to were not local and were going around in circles trying to return home. 


On leaving the village we were confronted by a group of people wading down the main street waving at us to stop. 


On winding down our window we were greeted with aggression from a local resident, we explained that we were trying to maintain a steady speed so as not to flood our engine.


Maybe the anonymous author of the letter, or the man that confronted us on the Sunday, should have spent more of their energy in assisting people or turning people around before they turned onto the village, rather than being aggressive or, worse still, gloating at the misfortune of stranded drivers.


As we are not properly serviced by the BBC with local radio, the police and the media should be in constant contact in times of emergency and if needs be scheduled programs should be cancelled in order to give Dorset residents up-to-date information on an unfolding situation.


Natalie Hirst, Dorchester