A WORCESTER woman who took command of troops to keep a motorway open during devastating floods will feature in a documentary tomorrow night.

Highways Agency on-road team manager Sioux Hine (pictured) of Warndon Villages led efforts to protect the M50 from flooding during February's floods.

The mother-of-four was poised to take the decision to close the motorway as water poured onto the carriageway. However, leaders from gold command, co-ordinating flood relief, had other ideas and put soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment under her supervision as they worked around the clock to put in place 1,500 sandbags at vulnerable points to protect the M50.

The route is a vital link between Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and parts of south Wales. The work was carried out at various points between junctions one and two, at junction three and between junctions four and three.

The BBC2 documentary The Motorway: Life in the Fast Lane will air at 9pm tomorrow (Tuesday) night after the Highways Agency gave camera crews from The Garden Productions unprecedented access to follow its staff and partners.

Ms Hine, who described the experience as 'surreal' was at the helm during the operation which began at about 6pm on Friday, February 14 and lasted until 1am the next morning.

A convoy then moved out from the Worcester depot, including four troop carriers, two Army Land Rovers and Highways Agency maintenance vehicles as part of a rolling road block while the work was carried out. Marker posts made it easier for Ms Hine to identify the flooding hotspots.

At one point she is soaked by a vehicle which drives a wake of flood water towards her, pushing the cameraman out of the way so he was spared a drenching. The troops used shovels to clear debris (stones and soil washed off the embankments) from the carriageway.

She said: "The soldiers were as good as gold. I was going to close the motorway because the flooding was particularly bad. I would have had to close it if we didn't get together and work together to keep it open. I knew where the problems were and I was the one instructing them (the soldiers) what to do. The camera man said I was in the wrong job. He thought I should have been in the army. Even the Major was running around under my instructions."

The episode is part of a four-part series chronicling the tireless work that goes into dealing with everything from life and death situations to collecting bizarre items of litter, all against a backdrop of safely delivering millions of pounds of investment in England’s strategic road network.

Executive Producer, Spencer Kelly of The Garden Productions, who spent last winter embedded with traffic officer crews working out of the West Midlands Regional Control Centre, said: “The series offers a unique and compelling insight into the multiple agencies and organisations that work to keep the M6 and surrounding motorways in the West Midlands safe and running 365 days a year whatever the weather."

Superintendent Paul Keasey, Head of Central Motorway Police Group said: “This was a brilliant example of how CMPG, a regional asset was able to work alongside national assets in the form of the Highways Agency and the Army to prevent a vitally important section of carriageway being lost to flood water."