West Midlands fire crews train on vehicles taken off fly-tippers

Six vans and cars were donated to West Midlands Fire Service after Birmingham City Council seized them from fly-tippers

Fire crews have been using vehicles seized from fly-tippers to improve their rescue skills when they are called to road crashes.

Six vans and cars have been handed over to West Midlands Fire Service by Birmingham City Council.

The vehicles were of no use with no resale value, the authority said.

Two of the donated vans were used this week by firefighters to practise cutting into vehicles and rescuing crash victims.

"There's rarely a day when our firefighters don't respond to a collision, or train for when they need to," Sutton Coldfield station commander Mathew Ward said.

Over the past five years, 65 vehicles have been seized through investigations into fly-tippers, the council says.

Fire crews will use the vehicles to improve their rescue skills for road crashes, the service says