A major north road was closed for more than two hours yesterday following a four-car pile-up.
The crash happened on the A9 Inverness to Thurso road, near the Evanton junction, at lunchtime.
Police, fire and ambulance crews attended although nobody was seriously hurt.
The accident, which involved a white Peugeot 2008, a silver Suzuki Wagon R, a blue Vauxhall Corsa and a white Vauxhall Insignia happened on the straight between the Storehouse and the Evanton junction.
Two of the vehicles were extensively damaged, and the road was shut for two-and-a-half hours while an oil spill was cleared from the northbound carriageway.
Motorists were diverted through Dingwall, which caused some “chaos” due to the volume of additional traffic on the road for the bank holiday.
Fire crews and Bear Scotland were called to clear the scene, but last night motorists questioned the decision to divert traffic through the town.
Mary MacLean, of Wick, who was driving home after a weekend at the Scottish Series in Tarbert, described as an “unsuitable road” for so much traffic.
Another driver described the road through Dingwall as “difficult to navigate” in his motorhome, which was part of a convoy with four other camper vans.
And Matty Brown, from the town, said the diversion had caused chaos.
“I think that every bad driver in the country decided to be on the A9 at the weekend,” he said. “It was chaos.
“There must have been thousands of cars coming through Dingwall.
“Some German tourists were not looking where they were going and chipped into my car that was parked outside my daughter’s house. Thankfully I saw them doing it and they stopped and shared details.”
The A9 reopened at 3.20pm.
A police spokeswoman said: “We were notified of an accident at 12.55pm on the north bound lane of the A9 at Evanton. The accident involving multiple cars completely brought traffic to a standstill.
“Traffic was diverted through Dingwall. The south bound lane remained open at all time while officers investigated the incident.
“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, an ambulance and Bear Scotland were all called to help with the incident.”
A fire service spokeswoman said: “We were on scene to help with the clear up of a fuel spillage on the road. We were aided in our endeavours by colleagues in the police, and we were only on the scene for a short period.”
