DRIVERS ON the A90 yesterday were lucky to escape without serious injury after a major diesel spill on the busy Dundee to Aberdeen road.

Around 6.30am some 400 litres (nearly 90 gallons) leaked on to the southbound carriageway from a diesel tanker after it broke down. Soon afterwards two people had a lucky escape after their car skidded out of control.

Around 25 miles of the road were affected by the spill that stretched from Findon, just south of Aberdeen, to Laurencekirk, and it took two-and-a-half hours for the carriageway to be gritted and declared safe by Bear Scotland, the company responsible for road maintenance.

Police believe the slick may have caused a car to spin out of control near the Temple of Fiddes turn-off. Luckily no other vehicle was involved and no one in the car was injured.

In a second accident two men had to be cut out of their silver 4x4 after it veered across the A90 and hit a lamp post near Fordoun. Police, ambulance crew and two Grampian fire and rescue teams attended but both escaped with minor injuries.

The incident came just weeks after a mother and her two children died when their car skidded on leaked lubricating oil.

Driver Ann Copeland (45) and her two daughters Niamh (10) and Ciara (7) were killed instantly when their Citreon Saxo hit an oncoming car on the A92 coast road between Montrose and St Cyrus.

But police were satisfied the diesel spill was not to blame in the more serious of yesterday’s crashes on the A90, saying a more likely cause was the strong wind blowing at the time.

Grampian Police Roads Inspector Ian Kirkwood said, “The Temple of Fiddes collision was a minor one and may or may not have resulted from the diesel spill.

“It is one possibility we are looking at. The collision near Fordoun was not related to the diesel spill. There were no other incidents.”