Scots couple die in French crash

A SCOTTISH couple have been killed after their car was hit by a cement truck in France.

The victims - named locally as expatriates Captain Peter Gordon, 84, and his wife Abbie, 74 - died instantly after their car was thrown 20 metres by the collision in the Dordogne on Thursday.

It is believed that Captain Gordon, who was born in Aberdeen and subsequently moved to Edinburgh, may have been blinded by the sun as he steered on to the main road.

Yesterday his sister, Fay, 82, who lives in Edinburgh, paid tribute to her brother, saying: "He was a bit of a cheeky rebel, very charming. He was obsessed with his cars and loved cricket. He was a much-loved man who had many friends who have been saddened by his death.

"In the early 1960s he was driving at 90mph when he crashed head-on into a tree and nearly died. He was brought to Edinburgh by his wife at the time to rest, but they found out he had a tumour behind his eye while he was in hospital. They had to remove his eye so they could remove the tumour."

His father, James Gordon, was a colonel of the Gordon Highlanders and Capt Gordon himself served in the same regiment.

A former pupil of Glenalmond College, in Perth and Kinross, he later raced for the Ecurie Ecosse motor racing team and numbered racingand rugby as his other sporting interests.