Twenty schoolchildren were rescued from their school bus today after it became stuck in floodwater.

The pupils were on their way to Tadcaster Grammar School from Bolton Percy.

A local farmer, Peter Houseman, used a trailer to ferry children to higher ground, where another bus was brought in to take the children to school safe and well.

School head teacher Geoff Mitchell said: "The children acted very responsibly. Everyone took care of each other."

The drama came as Norton and Malton breathed a sigh of relief at avoiding a serious flooding disaster this week as the River Derwent began to recede and the towns were taken off a Flood Warning.

Steve Smith, managing director of Barker-Smith Renault in Welham Road, Norton, said: "Last night was really the crunch time when we were going to find out whether or not we were going to be flooded again.

"We were getting ready to move all our cars to another location and to clear everything off the ground floor, but its a relief that that's not going to happen now."

A worker at Robson's Garage on the opposite side of Welham Road said staff were relieved the floods had not arrived.

"It came very close. Our inspection pits filled up with about six inches of water and we had to move some of our equipment but apart from that we escaped."

Meanwhile, council leaders from across Yorkshire were meeting at Wakefield today to decide whether to fund vital flood repairs and new defences at Ryedale and Stamford Bridge.

The 14 local authorities must decide whether to agree to a 37 per cent increase in their levy to the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee tomorrow.

North Yorkshire and York representative Peter Sowray said he was not confident there would be any such agreement, but he still remained hopeful something could be agreed allowing a start to be made to the two Derwent flood schemes.

Two MPs from across the political divide have got together to press for the funding to be agreed.

John Greenway, Conservative MP for Ryedale, and John Grogan, Labour MP for Selby, have sent a letter asking local authorities to stump up the extra cash needed for work to begin in the region.

"Whilst we all hope that the Government might yet be more generous, the ability of Government to offer further financial help must be constrained by the fact that other flood defence committees have agreed levy increases of up to 30 per cent.

"The threat of further flooding across our region during the next few days, which for some North Yorkshire communities would be the third flood in only two years, highlights the grave situation facing our constituents.

Their message came as the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed to the Evening Press there would be no extra Government cash for flood defences, saying: "It's down to the councils."

Updated: 14:41 Thursday, February 08, 2001