The miracle escape of a driver from a horrific car wreck on a remote Perthshire road throws into stark contrast the lack of services in the area, a local man has said.
The man, who asked not to be named publicly, said he was horrified to see just how close a friend had come to being killed when her car left the Strath Tummel road and plunged 30 feet down an embankment last Wednesday.
He said he was further chilled by the fact it took an estimated three hours for her to reach hospital.
“Had it not been for the sheer honesty of another driver involved in the accident, she could have lain undiscovered for hours,” he said.
The woman who has not been named had to be helped from her stricken car and then taken by ambulance to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for treatment.
Because she had a head wound, Perth Royal Infirmary was by-passed.
The man said, “It took half an hour for police to arrive and at least three quarters of an hour for the ambulance to arrive, with the fire service getting there in between.
“Once they had extracted her, it was a one and a quarter hour dash to Ninewells so it was about three hours minimum before she got to hospital.
“Luckily she was conscious and was able to call her husband who called the emergency services but he didn’t know exactly where she was.
“They spotted the other car involved on the road because he had gone down the slope to help her.
“Had it not been for his honesty in stopping, they might not have found her for hours.
“Had she been unconscious, she probably would have died because there are no local services.”
The man is one of many from the Rannoch area who feels there is scope for further health services in such rural localities.
“This is the plight of the people from here. Imagine if it had been at Rannoch Station (at the far end of the Strath) and another 20 minutes in each direction.
“It just shows why there is such controversy in Rannoch and Tummel regarding ambulance and health services,” he added.
The accident victim sustained only a cut head in the incident.
Her friend said, “It was a miracle that she landed on some rocks which lifted the front of her car off the ground.
“A branch went straight through her radiator and into the engine and had she not been lifted by the rocks, it would have been through the windscreen.
“Had she gone to the left or right she would have continued down the embankment into trees, so she was very lucky indeed.”