MORE than 2,000 homes were left without electricity for almost eight hours as the big freeze struck Birmingham last night. Families in Sutton Coldfield were unable to boil kettles or turn on their electric fires after a tree struck a power line at about 4.45pm. Engineers from electric supply firm Central Networks worked through the evening restoring power to homes on a street by street basis - but it was not until after midnight that all supplies were restored. A Central Networks spokeswoman said: "We are not sure if it was the weather that caused the cut. We do have trees hitting power lines from time to time." There was a second power cut in Burntwood, Staffordshire, where 3,300 homes were without electricity from 1am to about 2.45am. The ice, snow and bitterly cold temperatures also made for a miserable crawl to work for Midlands commuters this morning. The big freeze caught many by surprise during yesterday evening's rush hour with traffic in many parts of the region almost at a standstill. Motoring organisations reported no serious accidents but warned drivers to be wary on the icy roads. Blizzard conditions through the evening rush-hour brought chaos to the Black Country and left many town centres gridlocked. Many motorists reported taking an hour to cover little more than a mile. Public transport was also hit, with Midland Metro tram services into Wolverhampton being forced to turn back at Priestfield because of huge jams. The Wolverhampton Road approach to Junction 10 of the M6 was worst hit in Walsall, with the usual heavy traffic compounded by hazardous driving conditions. West Bromwich and Oldbury were also gridlocked. At the height of the rush hour, journeys through hilly parts of Dudley, Sedgley and Wolverhampton proved particularly troublesome. * Have your say on this story at www.icbirmingham.co.uk/mail/news/yoursay | 
