Three killed in bad weather

Three people died when a tree blown down by severe winds crushed two cars in a city street, ambulance service officials said.

Three people died when a tree blown down by severe winds crushed two cars in a city street, ambulance service officials said.

The incident happened at about 9.40am on the A435 Alcester Road South in King's Heath, Birmingham, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.

An ambulance service spokesman said those killed were confirmed dead at the scene by a doctor.

Emergency workers were awaiting the arrival of heavy lifting gear to remove the fallen tree from the wreckage, the spokesman added.

The bodies of the dead were still trapped in their vehicles and tarpaulins have been used to cover at least one of the crushed vehicles.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said the road had been closed at its junction with Howard Road East.

The deaths were the worst result of bad weather that hit much of the UK this mornng bring heavy snow to Scotland and winds of up to 80 mph to parts of North and Central England and Wales.

The British Meteorological Office said the bad weather was moving south east across the country from central England bringing high winds and heavy rain.

Heavy rain and snow today swept across Scotland causing a train derailment, road closures, and flooding.

ScotRail said the train was not carrying passengers when a landslide occurred at Barrhead shortly after 6am. No-one was injured and the train was undamaged.

And a series of railway lines were closed completely by flooding, with trains to the Cathcart Circle, Neilston and Ayr all suspended.

Other services in and around Glasgow faced serious delays and passengers were warned to check if their train was running before leaving home.

A ScotRail spokesman said efforts were being made to replace cancelled trains with buses, but with roads also flooded and severe congestion on routes which remained open, this was proving difficult.