Travel Alert: Bomb scare signals rush-hour misery for Birmingham

Commuters in Birmingham have been warned to expect major disruption on their journey home this evening after a day of travel chaos following the discovery of an unexploded bomb at a construction site in Aston.

Roads and motorways around the city centre are all been disrupted and buses and trains have also been severely delayed or cancelled.

All entry and exit slip roads at Junction 6 (A38 Aston Expressway, A38M, Spaghetti Junction) remain closed and current forecasts are that they will not reopen until after 10pm.

The closures include all roads leading to and from Salford Circus.

The A38(M) Aston Expressway is also closed in both directions between the A4540 (Dartmouth Circus) and Spaghetti due to the incident. There are also a number of local road closures in the area.

Highways England has warned motorists to find alternative routes if they can and to allow extra time for their journeys.

The M5 north from Junction at Oldbury to its link with the southbound M6 is not moving and there are delays on the M6 north from Junction 5 (Castle Bromwich) towards Junction 6.

In addition to the A38, there are also delays on the A5127.

Bus services are facing delays of up to two hours and many have had to be diverted.

Trains from New Street to Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield have been cancelled for the rest of the day.

For further information, follow @HighwaysWMIDS, @NetworkRailBHM and @Networkwm

The problems began at 9.45am when workman at a construction site in Priory Road, Aston unearthed the wartime device.

A 500-metre perimeter was set up and the area cordoned off, with homes and businesses in the area evacuated.

A specialist bomb disposal team was called in to make the device safe and to make sure there were no further devices in the area.