A Cockermouth trader has been sharing his experiences of  flooding at a conference in London.

Jonty Chippendale, who owns The Toy Shop in Main Street, was invited to the event, Risky Business, by Business in the Community.

London-based small and medium-sized enterprises gathered at the Guildhall in the capital to discuss business continuity programmes.

Mr Chippendale said: “I was there to give the Cumbrian floods perspective.

“We talked about priorities when your business is hit by something such as a flood.

“I told them my priority was everything on my desk and in my diary that needed dealing with in the next seven days, which if it wasn’t dealt with would turn round and bite me.”

The Toy Shop was flooded for the second time in six years when Storm Desmond struck in December.

It lost 20 per cent of its stock but was trading again within 48 hours.

Mr Chippendale joined a panel discussion at the London event and took part in a question-and-answer session. He also joined working groups, offering feedback on other businesses' ideas.

He said: “It all reminded me there is quite a gulf in thinking between local authorities and service providers.

“An SME in London can have up to 250 employees. In Cumbria it’s likely to be one or two. You can’t just get staff to look into things or set up working parties because you’d just be telling yourself to do it and you wouldn’t have the time.”

Steve Hamm, the head of programme for the London Resilience Forum and one of the organisers of Risky Business, believes that businesses in the capital, and elsewhere, can learn from Cockermouth's experience.

He said: ”All businesses continue to face risks that have the potential to stop, or seriously affect, their operations.

"Yet a survey conducted by AXA highlighted that 19 per cent of businesses were unable to identify their risks whilst the Federation of Small Businesses reported that just over 80 per cent of businesses that are affected by incidents are never able to recover.

"Far too few SMEs have business continuity arrangements in place. If businesses aren’t prepared, the tapestry of infrastructure, employees, supply-chains and customers can become loose and unravel rapidly. 

"Encouraging smaller businesses to prepare for emergencies must be a priority for us all.”

Although the Toy Shop was quick to reopen,  recovery work is still ongoing.

Mr Chippendale added: “We’ve just spent 24 hours putting in new stands and, while customers coming into the shop wouldn’t know we still had work to do, if they moved some of the stock a touch they’d see that the floor tiles don’t quite fit. 

"Repairs to the exterior aren’t quite finished, either. We still have some repainting to do there but we’re waiting for guaranteed good weather.”