A LORRY driver was left shocked but unhurt yesterday after his truck skidded off the road and ploughed into a cottage as black ice caused treacherous driving conditions in the north.
His vehicle was left embedded in the corner of the house following the accident in the centre of a Highland village and witnesses said he was lucky to survive the smash.
Last night, contractors were shoring up the badly-damaged three-bedroom Post Office Cottage – which sits on the main road through Carrbridge close to the community’s famous ruined bridge.
Meanwhile, the Met Office upgraded its weather warning for the Highlands and islands, adding snow to its existing alert for high winds and heavy rain today and for the rest of the week.
The lorry driver had been delivering parcels for national courier Hermes when yesterday’s accident happened.
House owner Steve Hanshaw was away on a trip to Liverpool for a Christmas party with staff at his factory.
Mr Hanshaw, who also owns the Clog and Craft Shop in Invermoriston, was told about the accident by police and he was understood to be travelling north to take charge of repairs.
The lorry ploughed straight into the corner of a ground-floor room used to store Mr Hanshaw’s crafts.
The building was formerly the post office house but has been a private home for about 40 years.
Brickwork at the corner of the house was demolished and large cracks could also be seen in the outside walls. Inside, the plasterboard was ripped apart and lengthy cracks were left in the ceiling.
Mr Hanshaw’s former wife Lyn, 56, who lives nearby, said the incident was a shock to everyone.
She went to the scene and said that the lorry driver kept saying “sorry” over and over again.
She said: “I am glad he’s OK. He could have been killed. He was in total shock.”
Kireen Johnston, 46, had just arrived for work at the Spar shop across the road when she heard a massive crash.
Ms Johnston said the driver was “very lucky to be alive”.
She added: “It was some bang. I was in the back of the shop, so I went running through to see what had happened and couldn’t believe it when I saw the lorry.
“I went out to see if the driver was all right and he was very shaken. Somehow, he didn’t have a mark on him.
“He wasn’t saying a lot, but he said he was really thankful that he wasn’t carrying a passenger as obviously it was the passenger’s side that was hit.”
Ms Johnston said there was nothing the driver could have done to avoid the crash as the village’s roads were covered in black ice.
She said: “There was so much black ice you could hardly even walk down the pavements or the roads in the morning.”
Another local said: “I can’t believe it. The lorry’s demolished quite a bit of the house.
“If it happened later on there could have been people on the pavements or people in the house. It could have been much, much worse.”
The accident happened at around 6am.