THE family of a teenager left critically injured after a car crash in atrocious weather were keeping a vigil at his hospital bedside last night.
John MacDonald’s silver Volkswagen Golf went out of control on a slip road off the A90 Aberdeen-Dundee road, cartwheeled over a barrier and landed on its roof.
The 19-year-old apprentice engineer with the Balmoral Group was travelling south at Roadside of Findon, near Portlethen, when the accident happened.
No other vehicle was involved in the crash.
Mr MacDonald, from Portlethen, was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with serious injuries.
Firefighters who went to the scene described conditions at the time of the crash in heavy rain, with a lot of surface water, as “horrendous”.
A police spokeswoman said: “The male sustained serious injury as a result of the incident and was taken by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with potentially life-threatening injuries.”
About 15 firefighters from the Altens station spent an hour on the scene as Mr MacDonald was cut free from his car.
A team with advanced first-aid training worked on Mr MacDonald, who is originally from Portree on Skye, until ambulance crews arrived.
Duty officer Graeme Goonan, who was at the crash site, said: “The weather conditions were quite horrendous, with torrential rain and a lot of water on the roads.
“The crews were faced with one car on its roof with the person still trapped inside.
“Straightaway, the priority was to make the road safe for the firefighters attending the scene. That road, regardless of the time of night, will see traffic moving at 50mph to 60mph and 70mph.
“The vehicle had come to a stop at the other side of the barrier. We knew the driver would be in a serious condition given the condition of the vehicle and the position of the vehicle.”
Mr Goonan said fire crews got to Mr MacDonald “quite rapidly”.
The southbound carriageway was closed for about four hours after Wednesday’s night’s accident, which happened shortly after 10pm, while a collision investigation took place.
The road was reopened about 2.30am.
A spokesman for the Balmoral Group, where Mr MacDonald has worked for six months, said the thoughts of staff at the company were with the injured driver and his family.
Ian Mollison, councillor for North Kincardine on Aberdeenshire Council, said last night: “It’s a very worrying time for the family and I hope things turn out in the end.
“The A90 has had a number of accidents in recent months. The sooner the Aberdeen bypass and Fastlink is completed, the better.
“While that is probably not a factor in this accident, the state of the road in some parts is very tired.”