Today's meeting at Fakenham Racecourse has been called off due to heavy rain preventing ambulances from being able to navigate a safe passage.

The jockeys had come out of the weighing room for the scheduled opener at 12.30pm before any issues had arisen.

However, just before the off time, it became apparent there was a problem, with the meeting then called off shortly afterwards.

It comes as The Met Office issued Norfolk with an amber weather warning for wind and a yellow weather warning for rain.

READ MORE: River levels rising in Norfolk after heavy rainfall

In an interview with Racing TV, David Hunter, clerk of the course, said: “We’ve had forecast rain from 11am along with rain last night and my medical team have done some trials and they are concerned that the ground is so slippy they would not be able to get the ambulances around.

“We don’t have a service track at Fakenham, so we have to strategically deal with instances like that, they would not be able to get an ambulance to a stricken jockey in the required time, which is one minute.

“He (medical officer) has discussed it with the BHA and there’s been an inquiry – it’s just really hard luck.

“I’ve been doing this for 26 years, we’ve had wet days and this has been a torrid season so far – this is the thing we always consider, we’ve walked it two or three times this season and felt there was no problem at all.

“What we have got is rain throughout the afternoon, so the situation will only get worse, not better.

“It’s beyond regrettable, nobody is more disappointed than me and my team and I’m really sorry for everybody who has arrived, and we’ll be giving a full refund.”

The High Lodge site in Thetford Forest was one of the first businesses to say it would stay closed today due to the weather. 

Some places in the county could see up to 50mm of rain today with winds set to hit 60mph.