The Scotsman
GRAMPIAN, Scotland — An investigation was underway last night into a head-on crash between a police training vehicle and an ambulance on a mountain road in which two police officers and a paramedic were injured.
One of the two injured police officers - a female constable - was flown to hospital by air ambulance with abdominal injuries following the crash on the notorious A939 Tomintoul to Ballindalloch road on the border of the Grampian Police and Northern Constabulary areas.
The accident, which involved a Northern Constabulary car containing four officers and a Tomintoul-based ambulance with two paramedics on board, took place inside the Grampian force area, close to the Lecht ski centre in Aberdeenshire.
A section of the road - a series of twisting bends leading up to the ski centre - was closed to allow investigations to begin at the crash site.
A spokesman for Northern Constabulary said that the training vehicle, a Ford Mondeo, had been carrying a driving instructor and three constables recently recruited to the force on a routine driver training exercise when the accident happened.
He said: “The female officer was taken by air ambulance to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness with abdominal injuries.
“The male officer who was driving the vehicle suffered a shoulder injury and was taken by road to Raigmore. None of the injuries are life-threatening.”
The ambulance driver was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with a suspected broken arm. The ambulance was not carrying a patient. The Northern Constabulary spokesman added: “We will obviously have to await the outcome of the investigation by Grampian Police officers before we can look at the question of any internal investigation into this accident.”
A spokesman for Grampian Police said that the crash had happened around 10.40am yesterday morning when a police car from the Northern Constabulary area was in collision with an ambulance.
He added: “Two police officers and one paramedic sustained injuries as a result of the accident and Grampian Police officers are working with our colleagues in Northern to establish exactly what happened.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said that the two paramedics in the ambulance were based at Tomintoul.
He explained: “Because Tomintoul is not one of our busier bases, it is standard practice for the crew to take the vehicle out for a morning run to check on the batteries and everything else because there is a huge amount of technology on the vehicle.”
He added: “The paramedic who was injured was taken to hospital in Aberdeen by car by our area manager who was on scene. He has a suspected broken arm.”
Last month, Northern Constabulary launched an investigation after two of its vehicles collided in Culduthel Road, Inverness, while responding to an emergency call. A police driver has been reported to the procurator fiscal in Inverness in connection with the crash.
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