Planes, trains and traffic hit by latest snow

Travellers faced delays today after snow grounded planes, hit train services and clogged motorways in the West Midlands.

Rush-hour commuters were stuck in delays of more than an hour after flakes started to fall late yesterday.

Click here to see more snow pictures from across the region.

But train passengers were still facing delays today after snow brought down overhead power lines on a busy commuter route.

All London Midland services between Lichfield's Trent Valley station and Birmingham New Street were cancelled.

Replacement bus services were brought in but added more than 30 minutes to some journeys. Network Rail bosses blamed problems with the overhead power lines in Sutton Coldfield.

A total of 19 flights were cancelled or diverted at Birmingham Airport after the runway was closed from 5pm until midnight. Airport communications executive Daniel Scafe said today: "We are fully operational now and have been since 6am. The advice would be to people to make sure that they leave plenty of time to check in."

Around four inches of snow fell overnight and temperatures are expected to plummet to 25F (-4C) tonight. Forecasters said there may be lighter snow fall tomorrow but no major snowstorms were expected.

On the motorways, traffic last night snaked from Castle Bromwich all the way to Stafford on the northbound M6, forcing drivers to sit in queues of more than an hour. There were long tailbacks on the M42 in Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Sandwell Council gritted last night and spread 190 tons of rock salt. Wolverhampton sent out its lorries at 2pm yesterday and 3.30am today and Dudley at 2pm and 6pm yesterday and again at 2am today. Birmingham City Council sent out 27 gritting teams shortly after 6pm on all major routes. Walsall transport chief Tom Ansell said: "We had gritters out last night so we were prepared."

Tonight's meeting at Wolverhampton Racecourse was also in doubt. An inspection was being held this morning to determine if racing would go ahead.