“One of the most horrific” collisions to take place on the A9 remains a mystery after a fatal accident inquiry found no explanation of why a lorry driver veered on to the wrong side of the road.
An agreed narrative into the deaths of lorry drivers Alexander Russell, 37, and John Sommerville, 34, was heard at Perth Sheriff Court on Thursday.
The court heard the men who were employed as nightshift drivers died from extensive injuries following the 2.25am crash on the Perth to Inverness road near Calvine on June 1 2012.
The bodies of Mr Russell, of Moodiesburn, North Lanarkshire, and Mr Sommerville, of Carluke, South Lanarkshire, were taken to the mortuary in Dundee and post-mortems were carried out on both men on June 6.
Mr Russell had been pronounced dead at the scene at 2.55am, and Mr Sommerville was pronounced dead at 3am the same day.
Depute fiscal Donna Davidson, of the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit, submitted an agreed narration of evidence.
It was found Mr Russell died from a combination of blunt force trauma and HGV “driver collision”.
Mr Sommerville died from multiple injuries and also blunt force trauma.
The court heard digital tacographs were recovered from both lorries, but they had been damaged in the crash and no information could be gleaned from them.
Martin Bell, a vehicle examiner with the Department of Transport, had looked at both lorries following the crash once near Blair Atholl and then later in Perth but didn’t find any faults with either vehicle that could explain why the collision took place.
Mr Russell had been driving southbound, carrying barrels of whisky for Carntyne Transport, while Mr Sommerville was travelling north to Inverness, with a cargo of newspapers for John Menzies Distribution.
During the narration the court heard that several witnesses had seen both men prior to the accident, but had not witnessed anything untoward about their driving.
In her findings, Sheriff Fiona Tait told the court that Mr Russell was in the “wrong place” on the A9 and that Mr Sommerville had “insufficient” time to avoid a collision.
However, she stressed there was no cause found for why his vehicle had crossed the carriageway.
Sheriff Tait also expressed her sympathies to the families of both men.