A MOTORIST was killed after his car slipped off the road and plunged 30ft down an embankment yesterday as the first major snowfall of the winter hit many parts of Scotland.
A Royal Mail van struggles through the snow near Carron Valley in central Scotland yesterday. The Met Office said it was expecting a good deal of new snow overnight Picture: PA
Several other people were injured in a spate of accidents caused by treacherous conditions. Severe-weather warnings issued for many parts of the country proved accurate as up to eight inches of snow fell, mainly in the east.
While schoolchildren looked out their sledges for the last few days of the holidays, and ski centres hoped for more wintry showers, the freezing temperatures, blizzards and poor visibility made driving hazardous.
The man who died was driving a BMW on the northbound carriageway of the A90 Brechin bypass. His car, along with a Rover 400 and a Mitsubishi pick-up, left the road about a mile south of Edzell just after 11am.
The vehicles are not thought to have collided, but police said it is believed that weather conditions played a part in the accident.
The victim is understood to be aged in his early 50s and from Aberdeenshire. The other drivers were not injured.
Four people were injured in a three-car collision involving a police car on the A9 at Inveralmond in Perth. A southbound Volvo crossed the central reservation and hit a marked Tayside Police vehicle and another car, which were travelling north.
A man and a woman travelling in the Volvo were taken to Perth Royal Infirmary but their injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. Tayside Police said it also had to deal with a number of minor collisions due to wintry conditions.
In the Borders, a driver suffered serious injuries after a collision with a lorry near Greenlaw and a milk lorry jack-knifed on the A68 at Soutra. Meanwhile, the poor weather forced the cancellation of ferry services between Aberdeen and the Northern Isles. Sailings today are under review.
Forecasters warned that more snow was expected overnight – with up to 12 inches (30cm) falling in the Highlands – and that those areas which escaped the snowstorms may not be lucky for much longer.
A Met Office spokeswoman said: "People living in the West Coast may be the only ones wondering what all the fuss is about, but the snow should hit them by mid-morning today.
"Scotland should expect quite a lot of snow all over during the next 24 hours so it would be advisable to wrap up warm."
The areas worst affected by heavy snow will be Grampian, the Borders, the Highlands, Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Central Tayside and Fife. But forecasters say milder weather means it is likely to melt during the day.
The heavy snow was welcomed by Scotland's ski centres. A spokesman for Snowsport Scotland said: "It looks encouraging and we have all our fingers and toes crossed."
Meanwhile, climate scientists yesterday forecast that 2008 will be one of the top ten warmest years on record. But experts at the Met Office and University of East Anglia said temperatures will not hit the highs of recent years.
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