A man was in hospital last night with head injuries after being hit by a taxi in an Inverness suburb in the early hours of the morning.
The pedestrian and car were involved in the collision on Tower Road in Culloden at about 6.20am.
The man – who is in his 20s – was taken to Raigmore Hospital following the incident, where he remained last night.
He suffered head injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening.
The taxi was carrying passengers at the time. Neither the driver nor the passengers suffered any injury.
Police carried out a thorough investigation, keeping the busy road closed for around six hours while they worked at the scene.
The Volkswagen Passat taxi appears to have been heading down Tower Road from the Westhill direction towards Smithton and Culloden when the collision happened.
The incident happened close to a pedestrian crossing linking Smithton woods with Culloden Avenue.
The taxi was operated by Sneckie Taxis, which has its main office near where the incident happened.
Owner Raymond Munro said his thoughts were with the injured man
He said: “We just hope he recovers.
“It was one of those things where he has come out onto the road and it would still be dark at the time.
“It’s a horrible thing to have happened for the man’s family and his friends so we hope he makes a full recovery.”
He added that his driver was “very shaken” by the incident but was otherwise uninjured.
The taxi could be seen inside the area where police were working yesterday morning.
Its front windscreen was completely shattered as a result of the collision.
A police spokeswoman confirmed that the pedestrian was to remain in hospital overnight, adding that his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
The force is also appealing to anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward.
In a statement after the road reopened at around lunchtime, the police said: “Police in Inverness can confirm Tower Road in Inverness is now open following an earlier road traffic collision involving a VW Passat and a male pedestrian, who is in his twenties and continues to be monitored in Raigmore Hospital following a head injury.
“The male driver and passengers in the Passat were not injured.
“As part of ongoing inquiries police are appealing for any witnesses to the collision who haven’t already been in touch to make contact via 101.”
It is the second serious accident involving a car and pedestrian to have happened in the Highland area in the last week.
Meanwhile, a man remains in a “critical” condition in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after being hit by a car on New Year’s Day in Avoch on the Black Isle.
Emergency services were called to the village at 5am in the early hours of Sunday after the incident in Station Road.
Officers closed the A832 Tore-Cromarty road for about eight hours on New Year’s Day while investigations were carried out.
A white Ford Fiesta with a dent in the windscreen could be seen in the morning in a layby off the road and inside the police cordon, near the back of the village primary school.
Police confirmed yesterday that the man’s condition remains “critical”.