Man arrested after fatal road crash in West Lothian and another crushed to death under car

Published on 24/08/2012 12:00

POLICE have arrested a man after a road accident in West Lothian resulting in the death of a passenger.

A 25-year-old man died after a Volkswagen Passat overturned on the unclassified Drumcross Road, Bathgate, near to Limefield Road.

He was a passenger in the vehicle when it crashed at around 10pm last night.

Police said it appeared the driver had lost control and hit a tree before the car flipped onto its roof.

The driver and the three other passengers were injured, two of them seriously.

Fire crews used hydraulic cutting gear to free two of the victims from the wreckage and a medic one team was in attendance.

But they were unable to save the man who died. A police spokesman said: “Despite the best efforts of the ambulance crew, the 25-year-old passenger was declared dead at the scene.”

The 41-year-old driver and the other passengers, two men aged 24 and 25 and a 15-year-old boy were taken by ambulance to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Police have confirmed the 41-year-old man who was driving the Volkswagen Passat has been arrested and charged with drink-driving.

He is expected to appear at Livingston Sheriff Court on Monday.

In another incident in West Lothian, a 43-year-old man died after he was crushed under his Land Rover at a farm near Linlithgow.

Medics and firefighters rushed to the scene of the incident at East Philpstoun Farm, after a call was received at around 1.15pm yesterday but it is understood the man was dead on arrival.

Police said they understood the vehicle had been up on blocks and the man was working underneath it when it fell on top of him.

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “An ambulance and a rapid response unit were in attendance. A medic one team was also initially deployed but then stood down when the patient was confirmed as a fatality on scene.”

Police said the health and safety executive had also been notified.

In a third incident, two men were rescued by lifeboat after their quad bike tipped over on an island off the east coast of Scotland.

Forth Coastguard said the men, aged 21 and 25, were working on the Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth, when the accident happened at about 8.50pm.

The 21-year-old was believed to have a broken ankle, while the other man was said to be “shaken up”.

A coastguard spokesman said the casualties were picked up by Anstruther Lifeboat before being transferred to a waiting ambulance and then taken to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife.