Boris Johnson's plea to get back to work falls on deaf ears in Birmingham

Most offices in business district deserted despite PM's call to return after coronavirus lockdown

• Coronavirus - latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

Boris Johnson's plea that people should be going back to work" in offices across England from Monday appeared to have fallen largely on deaf ears in central Birmingham.

In the Colmore business district, which normally has 35,000 workers, most office blocks were largely deserted, and at the city's train stations at rush hour just a handful of people sauntered out, mostly heading to work in shops or hospitals rather than to office-based jobs.