Gloucestershire Media helped to raise more than £230,000 in less than four hours for the county’s flood victims.

The group, which publishes the Gloucestershire Echo, The Citizen and The Forester, e-mailed a letter to local firms asking for their help at 2pm on Friday, and by 5.30pm £236,000 had been pledged.

The Gloucestershire Flood Relief Fund has now raised £250,000 and rising.

Andrew Blair, managing director of Gloucestershire Media, appealed to county businesses to donate £5,000 each, but many have so far topped this.

The company also asked Severn Trent Water for £50,000 and got it within three hours on Friday afternoon.

Bev Hawes, business editor for The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo, said: “The response from county businesses has been truly magnificent.

“It is all the more remarkable because so many county firms are themselves struggling to recover from the devastating effects of the floods.

“I think it was a truly humbling experience for everyone in the office to get such a positive response and in such a short space of time.”

The media group launched the fund in partnership with Gloucester City Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council, and will ensure that the money raised will go to the people who need it most as a massive recovery operation begins in the county.

All the companies which contribute are to be included in a roll of honour in the papers and on thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

HSBC is administering the fund and donations can be made at any of the bank’s branches or through branches of the C&G and Chelsea Building Society.