An elderly couple held hands to let each other know they were still alive after a horrifying “head on” smash in rural Angus.
Retired oncologist Ian Duncan and his wife Jennifer, a former dietician and charity worker, suffered serious injuries and were trapped in their car following the collision on the A94 Forfar to Coupar Angus road.
The pair were cut free by firefighters and rushed to Ninewells Hospital – where they were treated by their own son who was a consultant that evening.
The couple relived their ordeal for a remote jury at Perth Sheriff Court.
Mr Duncan, 77, said that a car appeared on the road in front of them.
“There was no escape,” he said. “The accident was inevitable.”
Claire McIntosh went on trial accused of dangerous driving on the A94, near the B9127 turn-off on May 3, 2018.
Prosecutors alleged that the 36-year-old, of Prosen Road, Kirriemuir, drove her silver Peugeot 307 into the path of the Duncan’s Vauxhall Astra.
But a jury took less than half an hour to find her not guilty.
Broken bones
The Duncans were on their way home from a meeting of the Forfar Historical Society when the accident happened.
Mrs Duncan, 76, said: “It was a really interesting talk, so we we were a bit later getting away than we expected.”
She said a car appeared on the road in front of them. “I said: ‘That’s going to hit us.’
“My husband said: ‘Yes, it is.’ And it did.”
She said after the collision, the car’s VauxhallConnect system kicked in. “I remember this voice in the car,” she said. “It was asking if we were okay and that it was going to call for help.”
Mrs Duncan, who was said: “We held hands with each other to make sure we were both still alive.”
The court heard that she fainted before emergency services arrived.
She suffered a broken right arm, as well as severe damage to a leg and whiplash injuries.
“I had a lot of seatbelt bruising,” she said. “It was horrific.”
Asked by fiscal depute Lora Apostolova if she suffered any emotional after-effects, Mrs Duncan said: “I’m fine about driving, but it’s a nightmare if I’m in a car as a passenger. I’m not very easy to deal with.”
‘I’ve got a problem’
Mr Duncan, a former consultant gynaecologist, suffered a broken pelvis in the smash.
“After the collision, I tried to get out of the car,” he said. “I turned to my wife and said: ‘I’ve got a problem.’
“She said: ‘So have I.'”
Mr Duncan described the crash as “head on” but accepted he may have tried to move his car to the left to avoid a collision.
He denied that he had caused the crash by driving into the wrong carriageway.
They told the court they did not see the driver of the other car before or after the collision.
After two days of evidence, jurors unanimously found Ms McIntosh not guilty.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael told Ms McIntosh she was free to leave the court and thanked the jury for their service.
