Drivers suffer in wintry conditions

Plummeting temperatures led to problems for drivers as the wintry conditions caused a series of smashes across Staffordshire and the Black Country.

Rush-hour motorists faced delays after a car hit a bridge in Rugeley, while residents were left marooned in their own street when a car ploughed into a telegraph pole on a road between Little Bloxwich and Little Wyrley.

Elsewhere, a driver was taken to hospital when his car careered off a road in Wolverhampton and smashed into a garden wall.

In the West Midlands, temperatures dipped to -4C (25F) last night and are expected to plummet to as low as -11 (12F) in the region by Friday as a freezing air mass sweeps across the country from Siberia.

Today, residents were waiting for a replacement telegraph pole to be installed after an Austin Metro crashed in Fishley Lane. The road linking Little Bloxwich with

Little Wyrley was initially closed off between Fishley Close and Wyrley Lane after the accident was reported to police at 5.40am yesterday.

Police, BT engineers and staff from Staffordshire Country Council were called to the scene where a telegraph pole and two overhead telephone cables had been damaged.

Fishley Lane resident Barry Lloyd, aged 67, who runs Fairway Boarding Kennels, said it had caused "chaos" for his business. He said: "I was very annoyed that the road had been closed off at both ends. I couldn't get out and my staff and clients couldn't get in. It caused absolute chaos."

Last night, a car hit a bridge in Rugeley, causing minor delays for rush-hour motorists. A red BMW crashed into the railway bridge at Bellamour Lane junction just after 4.20pm.

And the icy conditions also caused a driver to smash his car into a wall outside a house in Wolverhampton. The Rover 25 vehicle crashed in Finchfield Road, near Bantock Park, at about 9.30pm.