The week in pictures

A main road into Wolverhampton was closed on Monday after a car smashed into a lorry before hitting a passer-by. Four men were taken to hospital after the smash on the A41 Tettenhall Road, leading to several hundred yards of the road being closed by emergency services while they attended to the scene at 5:30am.

A huge explosion rocked a block of flats in Bilston on Sunday after 88-year-old Mary Hale's main gas line was thought to have fractured. The explosion, which happened at 7:45am, blew window panes to the other side of the road, damaged a chimney and caused fascias on the block to bow. Mrs Hale suffered 30% burns and was taken to Selly Oak Hospital where her condition was described as serious but stable.

The portcullis must have been closed over the weekend at Dudley Castle, as former Dudley mayor John Walters was seen abseiling down a turret to get out. His death-defying stunt was in aid of The Stroke Association, and an estimated 600 thrill-seekers took part over the course of two days.

A memorial dedicated to more than 1,000 men who lost their lives on the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Hood was unveiled in Staffordshire. The Admiral-class battlecruiser, known in the navy as 'Mighty Hood', was the largest capital ship in the Royal Navy at the time of her commissioning in 1920, and served as a flagship of the British Atlantic Fleet in the interwar years. She served with distinction during World War II until the fateful Battle of the Denmark Straight on May 24th 1941, where she engaged and was destroyed by the German battleship Bismark after receiving a barrage of plunging shells to her weak deck armour. A massive explosion resulted as her magazines ignited, and the Hood sank in only three minutes, taking the lives of 1,415 men in the greatest single ship loss of the war.

Just three men survived the disaster after the destroyer HMS Electra rescued them two and a half hours later. Ted Briggs, the last survivor, died on October 4th at the age of 85. Descendants of the seamen who lost their lives on the battleship were among those at the dedication ceremony.

A fire engine converted into a limousine met an ironic demise on Wednesday night after being attacked by arsonists. The real fire brigade was called out after the £10,000 Big Red Limo, belonging to Hot Stuff Limos, was set on fire. Around 100 bottles of bubbly were also victims of the fire, along with an expensive sound system, big screen and flashing disco lights.

Perhaps due to rising costs of aircraft flights, Santa has traded in his sleigh for a canal boat. Magical underground journeys are set to light up the Dudley caverns this Christmas. Santa Claus will be in his crystal mines grotto in Dudley Canal Tunnel throughout December, taking visitors on their 45-minute boat trips in open-topped boats.