PEOPLE in west Oxfordshire who were charged £2.50 per sandbag during the last week will be reimbursed.

The promise was given today by a senior officer at the district council because of some confusion over when sandbags will be issued for free in advance of potential flooding.

The council has also today stood down their emergency flood planning operation which has been in force since Wednesday, January 16.

River levels on the Thames, Windrush and Evenlode are almost back to normal seasonal levels and no heavy rainfall is expected.

Bill Oddy, head of community services, admitted that some residents had been told there was a £2.50 charge for sandbags when the rivers were only on flood watch, the first stage of alert issued by the Environment Agency.

As it moves to the second stage, flood warning when properties are at risk of flooding, they are issued free.

Mr Oddy said: "In general that is the benchmark. But, because there may have been some confusion, we will reimburse anyone who was charged during the last week or so.

"We appreciate that flooding can happen very quickly, like last July, and people want to be prepared in advance.

"We obviously adapt to the circumstances and there will be cases where we issue sandbags when flood warning is not yet in place.

"But we don't have the capacity to cover the whole district and it is a significant cost to the taxpayer. People need to take some action themselves to defend their homes."

In the July floods over 1,600 homes in the district were affected by flooding. Last week the only homes hit were in the village of Kelmscott.