Two motorists had a lucky escape when their car burst into flames after an accident on a busy north tourist road.
The A831 Beauly to Cannich road was closed for most of the afternoon following the accident.
Two people were in the car when it came off the road near the Kilmorack art gallery at around 11.39am.
A police spokesman said that both the occupants of the car had escaped from the fireball uninjured and described them as “walking wounded”.
Fire crews from Dingwall and Beauly attended to extinguish the blaze, while an ambulance was called but was later stood down.
The sporty hatchback was left badly deformed by the heat of the blaze in the middle of the road.
One of its front wheels was ripped off in the accident and was left in the middle of the road several yards away from the rest of the car.
The vehicle appears to have hit the grassy verge at the side of the road during the accident, leaving a trail of rocks and earth debris 40-50 yards long from the roadside bank in its wake.
The fire was extinguished within an hour and the last firefighters left the scene just after 1pm.
But the road remained shut for several more hours for repairs to be carried out to the road surface that was damaged by the heat of the blaze.
A fire service spokeswoman said: “An appliance from Dingwall and another from Beauly attended the incident.
“Two breathing apparatus and a hose reel jet were used.”
A spokesman for the police added: “There were two people in the car but no one was in the vehicle when it caught fire.”
Meanwhile, one of the north’s busiest roads was blocked during rush hour after an accident involving two cars east of Nairn. The A96 Aberdeen-Inverness road was reduced to one lane near the junction to Dyke and Kintessack in Moray.
The accident happened at around 8.30am and involved a black Audi estate car and a red Mini.
A police spokeswoman said that nobody had been injured but added that traffic was congested while emergency services dealt with the accident.