A MAJOR fundraising tractor drive which was to have passed through Dorset in April has fallen victim to the devastating floods in the South West.

Charities Troop Aid and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) had spent months planning the week-long tour to raise thousands of pounds for injured military personnel and farming families in need.

The drive was to have started from TV presenter Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park in Gloucestershire and travel through every county in the south west, including Dorset, with support from Young Farmers’ groups and well-wishers along the way.

But Troop Aid co-founder Al Sutton said they had decided to postpone it.

He said: “South west farmers facing waterlogged fields and a huge threat to their livelihoods have quite enough on their minds at the moment and our hearts go out to them.”

Troop Aid was set up to provide basic essentials for injured servicemen and women.

RABI is a grant-making charity which helps farming people of all ages if they are in financial difficulty.