Heavy snow hit parts of the West Midlands again today, causing early morning chaos on the region’s transport network.

Forecasters are warning of a bitterly cold Christmas, with freezing fog set to hit over the weekend and more snow showers today.

Lorries were stranded on the M5 today as heavy snow fell, while traffic was slow-moving on the M54 near Wolverhampton.

Rural areas like Albrighton and Shifnal were hit with another two inches of snow overnight.

Average temperatures of -2C (28F) today were set to fall to -8C (18F) again tonight.

The M5 was closed between junction 5 at Droitwich Spa and junction 4a at Bromsgrove, south of Birmingham, for 90 minutes from 6am as highways staff used snow ploughs and spread salt on it and the M42.

Bins were only being collected from main and passable roads in Dudley today, while in Walsall, council chiefs this morning called back all crews and axed rounds due to heavy snow.

Gritting crews in the Black Country were out at 11pm last night and 5am today.

Virgin Trains cancelled four trains an hour due to frozen tracks, while eight flights arrived late at Birmingham Airport today.

Heathrow Airport’s second runway reopened last night, raising hopes for the thousands of stranded air passengers.

It plans to run around two-thirds of flights today.

Rail travellers endured yet another miserable journey into work, with delays and cancellations on a number of lines.

A broken-down train caused delays between London and Northampton and Rugby while a number of services in Wales and Scotland had to be axed.

There were also delays and cancellations on services run by the Northern Rail company, while First Great Western and First Capital Connect were among operators that introduced amended timetables.