Met Office warns of more snow across the West Midlands

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for the West Midlands, predicting snow is likely to continue overnight.

Several schools were closed across Birmingham and the Black County after heavy snow falls.

About 45 schools took the decision to shut, mainly in the Walsall and Sandwell areas.

Flooding closed St Chads Queensway until 13:00 GMT causing heavy traffic in Birmingham city centre.

The tunnel closure led to disruption for drivers entering the city on the A38(M) Aston Expressway and cars on several other roads, including Bristol Road, were almost stationary.

Birmingham City Council said pumps in the tunnel had failed, flooding it with 15cm (6in) of water.

This car overturned in snowy conditions in Sutton Coldfield

A spokesman said: "The decision was taken to close the tunnel for the safety of the travelling public."

About 6cm (2in) of snow fell overnight with another 10cm (4in) expected by Saturday morning.

Fallen tree

Chris Lucas from Amey, the firm that carries out gritting for the area, said roads across the region were not too bad, although traffic was moving slower than normal.

"Obviously there's been a couple of inches across the city [Birmingham], and there's bit of slush around but that's to be expected," he said.

Trains between Birmingham and Wolverhampton were disrupted by a tree blocking the line.

A London Midland spokesman said she did not know what had brought the tree, near Coseley, down but it had been cleared away by about 07.30.

Fire crews attended a couple of accidents during the morning.

A car overturned and landed on another car in Chester Road, Sutton Coldfield, at about 04:00.

A West Midlands Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said she was not sure if it was due to the snowy conditions, but added all people in the car had managed to get themselves out before fire crews arrived.

In Stourbridge, a motorist reversed into a house while trying to get off the drive. The fire service said the damage had not been as bad as first feared.