Man charged after teenage driver killed

A MAN has been charged in connection with a fatal road crash in Aberdeenshire in which a teenager was killed and four other people were seriously injured.

Hairdresser Laura Thomas, 19, from Rosehearty, was killed in the early hours of Sunday following a head-on collision between her Ford Ka and a Renault Megane at a bend on the A981, near Memsie.

Two men and a woman who were passengers in her car were taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for treatment to non-life- threatening injuries. The driver and another man in the second car were also taken to hospital following the crash.

A spokesman for Grampian Police appealed for any witnesses to the two-vehicle collision to come forward.

Sergeant Chris Whelan, from Grampian Police's road policing unit, who is investigating the crash, said: "This crash is tragic, with a young woman losing her life and four other young adults suffering serious injuries.

"Our investigation into the collision is continuing, and we would like to speak to anyone who may have seen either car being driven around midnight on Saturday in the Memsie to Strichen area."