A north father-of-two who was struck by a car on New Year’s Day has died in hospital.
George Jack, from Avoch, was left in a critical condition after he was involved in a collision in his Black Isle home village’s Station Road.
In the days since the incident, he had been receiving treatment at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary – but did not survive.
Yesterday, in a statement released through police, Mr Jack’s family said they were “understandably devastated” by their loss, but were too upset to say any more about the tragedy last night.
And the community was in a state of shock as the news filtered through of the death of a popular local man who worked as a groundsman and digger driver.
Locals paid tribute to his voluntary work, along with his wife, Gillian, to help breathe new life into the Avoch sports pavillion by regularly cutting the grass and tidying the grounds and serving behind the bar.
Mr Jack’s former employer, Russell MacKenzie, who owns civil engineering firm Aardvark Contracting Ltd in Fortrose, said he was “heartbroken” by the news.
Mr MacKenzie added: “He was such a devoted dad and his life were his kids and Gillian.
“He was also a tremendous worker. He did a huge amount of work for the sports bar at the pavilion off his own back and tidied the place up really well. He had been working on that since about March last year in his spare time.”
Mr MacKenzie said that Mr Jack had worked for him off and on for several years until June 2016, when he moved on to do similar work through agencies.
His former boss added that Mr Jack also previously worked at Nigg as a rigger in the fabrication yard.
Another local resident, Steve Gough, said: “I had only known George for about six months but he was one of the kindest people I have ever met. We are all shocked and saddened by what’s happened.”
And a woman who regularly served Mr Jack in a local shop in Avoch said: “He was a really friendly person in the community.
“He put a lot of work into the pavilion and more or less seemed to run it.”
Black Isle councillor Craig Fraser said: “This is just devastating for the community. My heart goes out to the family.
“This is absolutely appalling for them to deal with and I am sure the community is going to rally round and support them.
“My deep, heartfelt, condolences go out to his wife and children.”
Emergency services were called to the village of Avoch at 5am on New Year’s Day following reports that a pedestrian and a vehicle had been involved in a collision.
Onlookers reportedly waited with the seriously injured man until an ambulance arrived at the scene.
The accident happened on Station Road, the main route through the village, and police have continued to appeal for witnesses to come forward to help with their inquiries.
Officers closed the A832 Tore-Cromarty road for about eight hours while investigations were carried out.
A white Ford Fiesta with a dent in the windscreen could be seen in the morning in a layby off the road and inside the police cordon, near the back of the village primary school.
Anyone with information about the incident should contact police on 101.
It was the second fatal accident on the area’s roads over Hogmanay and New Year, with firefighters having to cut a man free from their vehicle after a three-car crash at Muir of Ord the day before.
