Yesterday I was browsing around in a garden centre and picked up a Hoselock Flood Pump for just £18
This has a built in float switch and will shift 6000ltrs an hour, and can deal with some level of solid matter.
http://www.worldofwater.co.uk/products. ... Flood-Pump
I got this from Dobbies garden centre on sale from £80
I am not too worried about flooding in my location, but plan to use it as part of a rainwater harvesting system for toilet flushing. Could be handy to have to hand tho
Cheers
Matt