AN ELDERLY driver has died after suffering a heart attack at the wheel, sending his car ploughing into a tree.
James Fisher, 72, skidded across the busy city road, clipping another car carrying a pregnant woman.
The driver’s BMW then mounted the pavement and collided into a tree in Edinburgh.
Mr Fisher was travelling down a small side street when he took unwell at the wheel and careered across the busy Oxgangs Road just before 12.30pm on Monday.
Witnesses told police that they saw the 72-year-old slumped at the wheel as the car made its way down the road.
The fire service had to cut the him out of his car where he was unconscious but still breathing.
Mr Fisher – from the Colinton area of the city – was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he later died.
It isn’t yet known whether he died of the heart attack or the injuries from the crash.
A pregnant woman was travelling in a Volkswagen car which spun on the icy road after being struck by the wayward BMW.
She was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with a man and two-year-old boy but none of them had any injuries.
Local residents were shocked at the accident which closed the road for more than two hours to clear the debris.
A worker at Oxgangs Library, across the road from the smash, had noticed the emergency services on her way to work but didn’t realise what had happened at first.
She said: “By the time I got to work the police and ambulance had been there for a while.
“The road was blocked off just past the library with cars having to turn round and go back.
“It’s such a terrible thing to happen, really bad luck for the poor man.”
