The launch of Midland Metro services to Birmingham's New Street station has been delayed.

Services were scheduled to start running from Bull Street to Stephenson Street from Sunday May 22 but have now been put on hold for further track alignment works.

The development comes following extensive safety checks by Centro, the delivery arm of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority.

Centro's Midland Metro programme director Phil Hewitt said: "It is bitterly disappointing as everything else is in place and ready to go but, as we have said right from the start, safety is paramount.

"A stringent testing programme has identified minor anomalies in some of the track alignment which need to be addressed.

"These are exactly the sort of issues the tests were designed to identify.

"However remedial work is relatively straightforward. Once that is complete, on-street driver training can begin and we will soon have passenger services running."

A Midland Metro family fun day at Martineau Place, near the new stop in Corporation Street, which was also due to take place on May 22 has been cancelled.

Trams returned to the streets of Birmingham for the first time in more than 60 years last December when the Metro started running to the new stop in Bull Street.

Work began on the 1.2km scheme (0.6 miles) in 2012.

It is part of a £128 million project which has seen the introduction of a new fleet of 21 Urbos 3 trams, a refurbished depot at Wednesbury and a new stop at Snow Hill station.

It is expected to boost the West Midlands economy by more than £50 million a year and create 1,300 new jobs.

The Midland Metro runs between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, serving locations such as the Jewellery Quarter, West Bromwich, Wednesbury and Bilston, and will deliver more than three million people a year directly into the heart of Birmingham's main shopping district.