DRIVER CHEATS 400FT PLUNGE

Aberdeen Coastguard called out rescue teams from Dornoch and Helmsdale and scrambled a rescue helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth after a car skidded off a road and rolled 400 feet down a gorge at a notorious blackspot on the A9 at Navidale, Sutherland.

The accident happened at just before 7.30am on 1 October 2001 as Steven Henderson, a 23-year-old joiner was driving south from Thurso to the village of Kildonan.

Mr. Henderson’s car went over a two-foot stone wall before it rolled to the bottom, finally landing on its side in a swollen burn.

A lorry driver who witnessed the crash raised the alarm on his mobile phone.

An ambulance from Golspie in Sutherland was quickly on the scene and the crew clambered down the gully.

It was thought heather, small trees and bushes helped cushion the car as it careered downwards.

Helicopter winch operator Mike Chaplin said: "When we winched him on board on a stretcher he was quite lucid and was able to laugh when we cracked jokes about how lucky he was.

"We couldn't really see the car among the small trees but there was pretty much a trail of wreckage all the way down.

"The car had torn itself to bits all the way to the bottom.

"He crawled out with only facial cuts and complaining of a sore chest."