The snow has defeated Sandwell Council's binmen and refuse collections have been stopped for the day.

A Sandwell Council spokesman said: "For safety reasons, unfortunately we've had to take the bin lorries off the road. Heavy bin lorries aren't good in the snow.

"The crews went out early this morning and managed to complete nearly half of today's collections. Weather permitting, we hope to do catch up collections tomorrow and Monday. Residents who didn't have their bins collected today should leave them out."

The spokesman added: "Today's garden waste collections have been suspended until Friday February 1 - so no Christmas tree collections until then, sorry."