Residents were woken by screams on an Angus street when a pensioner was seriously injured in a car collision.
The 76-year-old man, named locally only as ”Willie”, was rushed to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee after being involved in a collision with a silver Citroen Xsara in Arbroath’s Ernest Street, around 7am on Thursday.
Neighbours watched in horror as the man lay in the road, having suffered two broken legs and a head injury, as well as possible internal injuries.
Paramedics arrived quickly and the man was conscious and talking when he was loaded into the ambulance.
Eyewitness Jill Boydall (33) said the street was still in darkness when the incident occurred.
She added: ”He seemed to be stable and he was talking to the paramedics when they put him in the ambulance on a stretcher.
”I went out when I heard the screaming from the driver she was shouting for help and was very upset. I got a blanket from the house for them.”
A crowd of concerned neighbours gathered around the man as they waited for the ambulance to arrive, many of whom knew him as a friend.
Shona Gowans (25), who lives on Ernest Street, in the same block of flats as the injured pensioner, said she ran out to see if she could assist when she heard the cries for help.
”It happened at 7.07am because I remember looking at the time when I heard the screaming,” she said. ”He is just a lovely wee guy and he cuts the grass and tidies up my garden for me.
“He lives alone and he is still very independent everywhere I go in Arbroath I see him. He is very friendly but very deaf.
”He was speaking away, but he looked very confused and he kept asking if the paramedics were his doctors.”
In addition to his more serious injuries it is understood the man suffered a cut to his hand that was bleeding heavily.
George MacGregor (85), who lives directly across the road from where the accident took place, said the pensioner was well-known in the local area and would often pick litter up from the road when he was tidying the street.
He added: ”You always see Willie out early in the morning sweeping up the leaves off the pavement. I think his home help worker was there and would have seen what happened.”
The 29-year-old female driver was unhurt in the collision, but was left badly shaken.
Crash investigators cordoned off the road at its junctions with Sidney Street and Walker Place until around 10.30am, while inquiries were carried out at the scene.
Inquiries into the full set of circumstances surrounding the incident are continuing.
Police have launched an appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time of the accident to contact them on 0300 111 2222, or speak to any officer.
Photo Jim Ratcliffe