The car involved in last night’s fatal accident.

By Stefan Morkis

A FEMALE motorist died following a crash on the A923 Dundee to Coupar Angus road last night.

The woman’s Renault Clio left the road a quarter of a mile from the Fowlis junction around 5.30 pm.

It is understood that the car, which was heading east towards Muirhead, veered up an embankment and went though a wall before coming to a rest on its roof in a field.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident, and the woman was the sole occupant of the car.

Emergency services were called to the incident and firefighters were required to cut her free from the wreckage.

She had sustained serious injuries, and paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Police sealed off the road from Muirhead to Piperdam while accident investigators began examining the area to determine the cause of the crash.

A police spokesman said last night that the woman’s identity would not be released until her next of kin had been informed.

Police want to speak to anyone who saw the car prior to the accident. Witnesses are urged to call police on 01382 223200.

* A man and woman were taken by ambulance to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee late yesterday afternoon after the car in which they were travelling crashed through a concrete barrier in Arbroath’s Kings Drive and landed on the beach.

The accident occurred at around 3.15 pm when the Renault Clio, which was not travelling at any great speed according to witnesses, mounted the kerb and then went through the barrier before falling to the beach, around 20 feet below.

Three police cars and a police motor cyclist were quickly on the scene, followed by an ambulance.

Coastguards were also informed of the incident but, as the tide was fortunately well out, neither they nor the lifeboat were required.

The couple were freed from the badly-damaged vehicle and treated on the beach by paramedics before being assisted up a slipway to the waiting ambulance.

It is understood the woman sustained a neck or back injury and her companion suffered minor injuries, but it is not thought that either of them was seriously hurt.

A 20-foot section of the barrier was destroyed and Angus Council and Tayside Contracts staff attended to assess the damage and erect temporary metal fencing across the gap.

In a tricky operation, the car was lifted from the beach by a recovery crane from the Green Park garage in Montrose as a crowd of onlookers watched with interest and recorded the unusual scene with cameras and mobile phones.

Once it was made safe by police traffic officers and garage staff, the vehicle was taken away for a full examination.

Lovat Clement, who operates the popular Burger Bus at the Victoria Park and who called the emergency services, said, “The pair of them were very lucky if they escaped from that without any serious injury.

“There was some suggestion being made that the car’s brakes failed but I don’t know.”

A police officer said the cause of the accident would be fully investigated and any possibility of brake failure would form part of that investigation.