Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

FAI moves to church hall to hear 96-year-old’s evidence

Alice Ross believed there was no-one else involved in the accident at Auckengill, six miles south of John O' Groats.
Alice Ross believed there was no-one else involved in the accident at Auckengill, six miles south of John O' Groats.

A fatal accident inquiry into the death of a cyclist on a Caithness road will today move from a courtroom to a small church hall to allow the 96-year-old driver of the car to give evidence.

The unusual step to move the FAI from Wick Sheriff Court to Lybster is being taken to allow evidence to be heard from Alice Ross, a retired shopkeeper from the village.

Mrs Ross was driving the car which struck and killed Elaine Dunne on the A99 Wick-John O’Groats road at Auckengill in 2011.

Mrs Dunne and her husband Christopher, of Glenfield, Leicester, were standing at the side of the road when they were struck by Mrs Ross’s vehicle.

Mrs Dunne, 30, was killed and her husband seriously injured.

The couple were on a cycling holiday in Orkney to mark their first wedding anniversary and were heading home at the time at the time of the fatal collision.

Today, solicitors will remove their gowns and Sheriff Andrew Berry his wig to try as much as possible to put Mrs Ross at ease for her evidence.

Mrs Ross was said to have swerved to avoid a black cat which crossing her path, although a police crash investigator found no marks on the road to suggest this.

She was known to have had brief blackouts in the past, the latest which occurred a month before the accident.

The inquiry yesterday heard evidence from Mrs Ross’s GP, Dr Bobby Echavarren, who practices in Lybster.

He referred to a report by a consultant Dr Malcolm Metcalfe, which stated that the probable cause of the collision was Mrs Ross veering across the road because of a heart condition.

Dr Metcalfe concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, the unusual path taken by Mrs Ross’s Nissan Micra, was “strongly in keeping with a cardiac cause which led to her loss of control of her car”, the inquiry heard.

Fiscal Alistair MacDonald described this as a faint with perhaps a cardiac or stroke as the trigger.

Dr Echavarren added that had he known about the blackout a month before the accident, he would have examined Mrs Ross and, if necessary, referred her to a specialist.

Dr Metcalfe will also give evidence at the inquiry today.