Wednesbury family flees as roof collapses
Part of a house collapsed in Wednesbury today, forcing a family to flee as bricks and tiles fell onto the street.
The gable end of the roof in Rooth Street began to cave in shortly after 6am.
Nigel Botfield, who has lived in the property for two-and-a-half years with his wife, son and brother-in-law said they were awoken by the noise of the roof giving way.
The back window of his Peugeot 206 had also been smashed by falling debris.
"We heard a rumble, it sounded like an earthquake," said the 43-year-old forklift driver.
"We rushed outside and initially thought the chimney had come off. Then we realised it was the gable end."
The road was closed in both directions between the Wood Green Road junction and the Brunswick Park Road junction.
A pile of about 100 bricks lay outside the house, which dates back to 1893, and structural engineers and firefighters were on the scene.
Fire service watch commander Paul Mitchell said: "We were called about 6.15am to reports that the front of a building had collapsed.
"We arrived to find rubble on the pavement and road. We removed some of the excess debris to make it safe and made sure the area was safe before the structural engineers arrived."
