Police are probing claims one of their patrol cars was driven the wrong way along a busy north-east road after a dead cow caused an accident.
Officers were sent to a stretch of dual carriageway on the A96 Aberdeen-Inverurie route close to Tyrebagger woods.
The northbound carriageway had been reduced to just one lane after a cow was knocked down and killed by a vehicle.
And one motorist has claimed southbound traffic was forced to swerve to avoid an oncoming police 4×4 which was on the wrong side of the road.
Tony Galbraith, a project manager from Oyne, was on his way to Aberdeen International Airport to drop-off his parents and also had his young daughter in the car.
Mr Galbraith, 39, said: “I saw a police traffic car, a Mitsubishi Shogun, driving towards us on the dual carriageway on lane two with its blue lights on.
“I was doing 70mph, and so was every car behind me, and when I looked in the mirror there were two cars in the overtaking lane that had to swerve into the inside lane to allow that car to continue up the wrong side of the road.
“They’ll need a cast iron excuse for putting my life and my daughter’s life in jeopardy for no good reason.”
A police spokeswoman said: “We have received a complaint in relation to the manner of driving of a police vehicle when attending a road traffic collision and are making inquiries into the circumstances.”
A spokesman for road safety charity IAM Roadsmart said: “Emergency service drivers are trained to assess each situation on its merits and to balance road safety with the need to get to an accident quickly.
“Police drivers in Scotland get some of the best training in the world, and on the vast majority of calls make the right decisions to keep themselves and the public free from harm.
“When their driving does appear to fall below their normally high standards they can expect to be taken to task, and IAM Roadsmart welcomes the Police Scotland promise to thoroughly investigate what happened and make their findings public in due course.”
The incident happened around 5.20pm on Friday.
