A driver who was killed when her car collided with a school bus on Wednesday was named yesterday as Glasgow lawyer Veronica Banks.

Ms Banks, 34, who ran her own Newton Mearns-based law firm, died instantly in the crash on the A9 near Ralia, south of Newtonmore, after her sports car collided with the hire coach.

It had been taking 28 pupils from Kingussie on a history outing to Stirling. Ms Banks was travelling alone in the two-seater MG.

Ms Banks had been convicted at Inverness Sheriff Court in January of speeding on the A9 at Daviot, a few miles north of the spot where she died. She had been travelling at 102mph on a stretch of the dual carriageway last May, and was fined £500 and had six penalty points imposed on her licence.

She had opened her one-woman firm two years ago after working for two big Glasgow firms, Ross Harper and Beltrami and Co.

Born in England, Ms Banks had moved to Scotland with her parents and entered secondary school in Glasgow, and graduated LL.B with honours from Glasgow University. She lived in Shawlands.

Harvie Diamond, a partner in Ross Harper's Dixon Street office where she worked for two years until about two years ago, said: "Everyone respected her and we are all extremely upset at what has happened."

Murray Macara, at Beltrami and Co, where she worked for four years during the late 1990s, also remembered her as a popular colleague, specialising in criminal work.

The pupils from Kingussie Primary School had been travelling to Bannockburn and the Wallace Monument, near Stirling, with one teacher and three parents.

Fourteen of the children, aged between nine and 10, and one adult suffered minor injuries, but did not require hospital treatment.

Headteacher Patricia Lockhard said: "Some pupils suffered minor bumps and bruises, but thankfully none required treatment and I am sure this is due to the fact that the children were wearing their seatbelts. It is terribly sad that someone lost their life in this accident."

The road was closed for four hours. A Northern Constabulary spokesman said: "The force's road policing section has carried out a full road collision investigation and a report will be submitted to the procurator-fiscal."

Ms Banks was the seventh person to die on the A9 Perth-Inverness trunk route in less than six months, and there have been regular demands for it to be upgraded.