Thousands are left without water

Thousands of homes in Birmingham had their water cut off and 10 schools were forced to shut after a mains pipe burst near Spaghetti Junction.

The junction of Lichfield Road and Cuckoo Road in Aston was left under 2ft (60cm) of water after the pipe burst at about 0745 GMT.

Traffic was diverted around the area and several cars were left stranded.

Severn Trent said engineers had been working at the site and most people would be reconnected by the evening.

Repairs to the damaged water mains were expected to continue on Friday and were expected to take at least a week.

Further work will then be carried out to repair the damaged surfaces.

Severn Trent officials said traffic would be able to continue using Lichfield Road while the repairs were completed.

Fraser Pithie, the company's senior operations manager, said: "We'd like to apologise for the inconvenience and disruption caused by the burst, and thank people for their patience and understanding."