A CAR driver died and another was injured in a two-vehicle crash that closed a busy Highland trunk road yesterday.
Huge tailbacks of traffic built up on either side of the smash as police shut the A82 Fort William-Inverness road between Spean Bridge and Fort William at about 2.40pm.
The accident involving a car and a pickup truck at Torlundy happened not far from the entrance to Inverlochy Castle Hotel.
The victim was named locally last night as top darts player Bryan Whyte, from Spean Bridge.
Councillor Thomas MacLennan, Fort William and Ardnamurchan, said: “It’s a very sad day – and we seem to have had an awful amount of sad days recently on this stretch of the A82.
“There will need to be a thorough investigation into this accident.”
Police issued an appeal for witnesses to the crash to get in touch.
They said the car driver died as a result of the collision and the other driver was taken to the Belford Hospital in Fort William.
Diversions were put in place, but police warned motorists to avoid the area if possible. The road was expected to reopen again at midnight.
An ambulance spokeswoman said one patient was taken to the Belford Hospital suffering from neck pain.
She described the casualty as “walking wounded” but was unable to say whether it was a man or a woman.
A fire service spokeswoman said two appliances from Fort William attended at the scene.
She said: “It was initially thought that someone was trapped in one of the vehicles but no equipment was used. The crews made the scene safe.”
A police spokesman said: “At approximately 2.40pm, emergency services were called to a serious road traffic collision involving a car and a Ford Transit pickup vehicle on the A82.
“The driver of the car received serious injuries and sadly died as a result of the collision.
“The driver of the Ford Transit pickup was taken to Belford Hospital but was not thought to be seriously injured.”
He said the road was closed to traffic in both directions between Spean Bridge and Fort William, with southbound vehicles diverted via the A86 Spean Bridge-Kingussie road and the A9 Inverness-Perth road.
A local northbound diversion was put in place along the B8004 Banavie-Gairlochy road but this was suitable only for cars, not HGVs. Drivers heading south of Fort William could make a long detour to the A9, and northbound drivers had the option of going via Glencoe to Perth, then north up the A9.
The police spokesman said: “Police are asking road-users to avoid the area and plan an alternative route as there may be delays.”
Soon after the accident, long tailbacks built up on the A82 and Lochaber High School pupils who live north of Fort William were unable to be bussed home at the end of the school day.
The school minibus ferried the youngsters to Fort William railway station so they could catch the train to Spean Bridge.
The A830 Road to the Isles and the B8004 also became very congested, particularly during the evening rush hour, with vehicles using the northbound diversion.
In Argyll, a woman was cut free from her vehicle yesterday and taken to hospital with minor injuries following a three-car crash.
The A83 Tarbet-Campbeltown road was closed for more than four hours after the accident, which happened four miles east of Inveraray just after 2.30pm.
Sergeant Iain MacNicol, based at Lochgilphead police station, said: “A silver Astra was going towards Glasgow. The other two, a white Hyundai and a blue Honda Civic, were going towards Lochgilphead.
“The woman driver was found not to have any serious injuries.”
A 60-mile diversion was put in place via Dalmally, Tyndrum and Crianlarich until the road reopened at 7pm.
One person was flown to hospital in Inverness with neck injuries after a two-car crash in Sutherland.
The accident happened on the A838 Lairg-Tongue road, 10 miles north of Lairg at the side of Loch Shin at 11.26am yesterday.
The road was blocked for a short time to allow emergency services to deal with the incident and recover the vehicles.
An ambulance spokesman said one person was taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness with neck injuries.