Gales cause travel chaos across Midlands

Telegraph poles and trees were torn down, thousands of homes were left without power and there was chaos on the road and rail network as 60mph winds gave the Midlands a fresh battering today.

Around 6,000 properties across the region were without power this morning, with uprooted telegraph poles and debris blowing onto power lines causing the disruption.

The hard shoulder of the M6 was closed southbound between junctions 10A for Walsall and 10 for Essington due to the power failure, causing queues to build up during rush hour.

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In Stafford a motorist had a lucky escape when a tree crashed down yards in front of his car in Common Lane, Bednall, Stafford at 6am, blocking the road for three hours. The driver, whose Ford Galaxy hit the tree trunk, escaped unhurt.

On the A34 Queensway in Stafford town centre a fallen tree partially blocked the carriageway this morning.

Another fallen tree in Stourbridge closed a railway line, affecting hundreds of passengers' journeys.

And a tree blocked one lane of Wrottesley Park Road in Perton near Wolverhampton.

Gusts of up to 60mph were recorded and forecasters said the winds would peak at around midday.

Western Power Distribution confirmed that thousands of customers across the region had been left without power.

The shift manager at the company's control centre said: "There is quite a bit of debris flying on to the lines."

Motorists were also experiencing problems after a tree came down in Bromsgrove Road, Clent, near Stourbridge.

Winds ripped the roof felting from a home in Stone Road, Stafford, in the early hours.

A cold front sweeping across Britain has brought the high winds.