The most gun-plagued streets across the Black Country, Birmingham and Staffordshire can be revealed today.

Police were called to reports about weapons including shotguns, handguns, air pistols and ball bearing guns over a 12-month period in the region.

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed the streets with the highest numbers of recorded firearms offences. In Walsall, police were called to Lichfield Road in Brownhills eight times between May 2009 and 2010.

During the same period in Sandwell, Smethwick High Street clocked up five incidents. In Dudley, The Waterfront and Cherry Street each recorded three firearms offences, while Hagley Road in Birmingham recorded seven.

In Wolverhampton five streets each had three recorded offences  – Cannock Road, Wednesfield High Street, Lime Grove in Bilston and Granville Street and Vicarage Road in All Saints. One incident in Cannock Road was an armed robbery on May 19 last year.

Two men held up a store, with one of them pointing a loaded handgun at the manager and pulling the trigger several times. The gun malfunctioned and the men got three and five years in prison respectively.

Longest

West Midlands Police spokesman Brigg Ford said: “Some of the roads listed here are among the longest and busiest in the region, stretching for many miles, so it’s no surprise to find that more offences are associated with them than smaller, quieter streets.

“It is important to note that these offences include incidents where firearms have been seen but not used – these figures do not represent incident levels where firearms have been discharged.”

In Cannock, Stafford Road had the most reports, with two incidents of windows being smashed by air weapons. Stafford and Lichfield had no reports of firearms offences between May 2009 and 2010.

West Mercia Police received four reports relating to one incident in Bridge Street, Stourport.

The number of reported firearms offences in streets between May 2009 and 2010:

• Wolverhampton: Cannock Road: 3; Granville Street, All Saints: 3; Wednesfield High Street: 3; Lime Grove, Bilston: 3; Vicarage Road, All Saints: 3
• Dudley: Cherry Street: 3; The Waterfront: 3
• Walsall: Lichfield Road, Brownhills: 8
• Sandwell: Smethwick High Street: 5
• Birmingham: Hagley Road: 7
• Cannock: Stafford Road: 2
• Stourport: Bridge Street: 4
• Stafford and Lichfield: no reports

EXCLUSIVE by Elizabeth Joyce