End of the road for Twitter transport guru Travel Tom

For years, frustrated commuters have taken to Twitter to see if the West Midlands travel expert can put them out of their misery and inform them what is going on.

But now the daily flow of travel information that social media users have become accustomed to appears to be about to stop.

The man behind the Travel Tom - Tom Stokes - announced to his thousands of followers that the Twitter account is to close at the end of this month.

Tom, aged 33, originally from Wolverhampton but now living in Shrewsbury, first came to prominence as a travel reporter for Beacon Radio, which then became Free Radio.

His 11-year run on the airwaves came to an end two years ago but Free continued to employ him to provide the station's travel updates. However, he has now been informed he is no longer required for the role.

While many might picture Travel Tom hovering above the skies in a helicopter on the lookout for the next big emergency, it has actually been from his home that he has been providing updates since leaving the radio.

"I used to have a decent set-up with five screens. I'm now in the spare bedroom overlooking the railway line with two laptops, monitoring all the different websites," he said.

Tom admitted travel had started to take over his life and that becoming the go-to man for news and updates meant he had to be ready at all times of the day.

He said: "If I tell them something on Facebook or Twitter, they will tell me something. I have got to be there to respond to them.

"It has been 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If I get a message I have to respond and I don't get paid for that, there is a set amount of hours I work.

"If it is a lane closure on a motorway or a bit of untreated ice on a road I might not necessarily do it but if it's something on fire or a motorway closure you know it's something big.

"Then you have got to update. There is no point just posting and leaving people thinking 'is it still there?'."

Undoubtedly the biggest change in Tom's time as a travel reporter has been the social media boom - with Twitter in particular giving him the platform to communicate directly with road and rail users.

He said: "I was quite late to it. It is a good thing but it is also a bad thing because it never stops. I am quite lucky in that I haven't had much abuse.

"It is a good thing in many ways but sometimes there is too much information and a lot of rumours."

As for what comes next, Tom admits he is not really sure.

"I've thought about everything, becoming a taxi driver or a cleaner. I will see what comes up."