Thousands lose electricity in big freeze

Power cuts heaped more misery on thousands of people as temperatures across the West Midlands plunged last night – and more snow was forecast.

More than 5,100 homes and properties in Wolverhampton were without power for more than two-and-a-half hours last night after a cable failure.

And in Walsall town centre more than 700 shops and homes lost electricity yesterday, affecting shops at the Old Square shopping centre.

Central Network said both power cuts weren't caused by the weather, but the biting conditions hampered engineers attempting to repair the faults.

Forecasters today predicted snow flurries today and up to two inches tomorrow.

The Met Office said temperatures dropped as low as -10C (14F) in the West Midlands overnight and predicted temperatures would barely rise above freezing until Friday of next week.

Around 100 schools remained closed today across the West Midlands, while others were only opening to GCSE and A-Level students.

In Willenhall, a police car crashed into a wall after skidding on the ice. A female officer, thought to be in her 20s, was cut free from the passenger side of the vehicle in Sandbeds Road just before 3am.

Racing at Wolverhampton this afternoon was called off after a track inspection at 8.30am found lumps of ice embedded in the track.

The coldest temperature in the UK last night was Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands. The thermometer dipped to -21.6C (-6.9F)