A SCOTS couple have appealed for witnesses on Facebook after a police vehicle on a 999 call hit their car so hard it was flipped on its side.
The pair had married just 11 days before the accident, which left Mandy Edmond trapped in the car. She suffered whiplash and needed counselling for trauma.
Mandy, 32, and Derek, 39, claim the police car went through a red light at excessive speed and they are furious that Police Scotland has denied liability for the crash in Edinburgh in June this year.
The couple’s £9,000 car, which was written off in the smash, landed on a pedestrian crossing.
After the force refused to accept the blame, the couple decided to post details on social media in a bid to find witnesses to help their case.
It recently emerged that in 2013-14, Police Scotland cars were involved in 1,555 collisions – including 113 during emergency call-outs.
Derek, from Port Seton, East Lothian, said: “I was shocked when I found out they were contesting liability.
“I didn’t think it would be completely straight forward but didn’t expect this.”
He added: “My wife was in a whole stream of traffic going straight ahead when the car hit her. The traffic was flowing, there were cars in front and behind her and there wasn’t any big gaps.
“She got taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and was shaken up by it at the time. She had cuts and bruises from the glass and then a few days later started getting back and neck pain due to whiplash.
“The car was a complete write off. It was the side airbag that saved her life because it pushed her away from the window.”
Derek said the accident had overshadowed their wedding.
“The night before we were actually looking through photographs and then the next day I get a call saying ‘Your wife’s been in a car crash, go to the ERI.’
“She was taken to the hospital so didn’t have time to even think about getting statements so now we are in this situation where we have to get witnesses, it’s more of a hassle at the cost to us.
“The worst thing now is the driving, she has to drive that road to work everyday and if anyone cuts in front of her or any bad driving she can get anxious. She’s been to see a councillor about it so it’s getting better now.
“It’s been very difficult to get any information from the police. On the letter we were given a phone number to contact and have tried calling them to ask for the statements that were taken at the time.
“Because Police Scotland are the party involved they can control what they give us. The car didn’t have dashcams and apparently there’s no CCTV in that whole part of Edinburgh so we can’t prove any of this unless we can get witnesses. The big question for me is who is investigating the police on this?
“We had to go and buy a new car the following week and now the real issue now is liability as this could affect her insurance premiums going forward. She’s never been in a crash before.”
The collision happened at 8.35am on June 14 this year on Niddrie Mains Road at the corner of Craigmillar Castle Road in Edinburgh.
The family’s dedicated Facebook page titled “Niddrie Car Crash” has already attracted over 500 shares and attracted dozens of comments.
David Purves said: “My colleagues attended this rtc from Newcraighall fire station and I passed it in another fire appliance on route to Newcraighall fire station.
“Emergency vehicles being driven on blue lights must approach red lights with caution and only proceed when clear to do so. In other words treat it like a give way. Try find out an estimate of the speed the police car was traveling. Hope this helps.”
Shona Chadwick wrote: “Your wife has my details so get in touch at any point. That’s me with her in the picture. Seen the crash and stayed with her until the fire service arrived.”
And Dave Dickson said: “They run a red light on blue lights doesn’t matter they have to accept liability as they should be driving within a tolerance depending on the type in incident they are travelling too and no matter what if red light should be slowing down at a junction to assess if safe to proceed.”
If anyone witnessed the crash, please email: niddriecarcrash@gmail.com
No one was available for comment from Police Scotland.
