An apprentice pipe-fitter from Fraserburgh has described the moment he walked away from a car crash that could have killed him.
Daniel Reid, 19, had been travelling to work in the early hours of Monday morning this week when his car, a silver Ford Fiesta, hit ice and crash-landed into the garden of Cortes Kennels.
Last night, Mr Reid described himself as “lucky” to have been able to survive the crash.
He was making his way to work at Dyce just after 5am when his car spun out of control on the A952 Fraserburgh to Mintlaw road and overturned.
“It was just 10 minutes outside Fraserburgh. I felt the car sliding out and I completely lost control. It felt like a big bang against the car and the next thing I knew I was upside down,” he said.
“Straight away I crawled out of the car. I’m not even 100% sure if it was the door or the window that I crawled out of, I just got out as quick as I could. That’s when I realised it was a house that I almost crashed into.
“It took a while to process what had actually happened. It wasn’t until I was out of the hospital, when my dad showed me photos of the car, I realised how lucky I am.
“I didn’t even realise the airbags had gone off – I’ve got no recollection of airbags going off. I don’t know if I was unconscious for any length of time in the car or not. Once I saw how bad it was, the fact that my car was upside down and pointing in the opposite direction from what I was driving, that’s when it hit me. It was a scary thing.”
Mr Reid added that he had sustained no injuries other than bruising from the crash.
“I still can’t walk, but it’s just bruising. It should heal,” he said.
His is the third crash in the last 30 years to have taken place by the kennels.
Responding to criticism of the A952 safety measures, an Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said there was nothing the local authority could have done to prevent the accidents at Cortes Kennel.
A separate crash involving a van took place on the same day on the same stretch of road.