A TAXI driver who died after his car plunged into a harbour has been described as a "dearly loved and cherished" husband.
Graeme Reid was trapped in his Hyundai Sonata for more than an hour after it went over the wall and entered the water. The 42-year-old was unable to get out of the vehicle after it dropped to the bottom of Peterhead Harbour on Monday morning.
Yesterday his wife Carolyn and two stepchildren, Amanda and James, paid tribute to the taxi driver. They described him as a "cherished" husband and a "loving" grandad to his three grandchildren.
The accident happened at Peterhead Harbour at about 8.50am. The car was seen heading down Ellis Street and over the Seagate.Onlooker Gavin Sutherland jumped into the water shortly after the car went over the wall but could not reach it.
The 33-year-old offshore worker said: "I tried several times to get down to it but I just couldn't do it - it was a bit deep and cold and there was zero visibility.
"My thoughts are with the family - it's such a shame."
Coastguards and lifeboat crews struggled for more than an hour to attach a rope to the vehicle and haul it out of the water. It was eventually winched up on its roof on a nearby slipway.
Mr Reid worked as a driver for Grab-A-Cab, based on the Seagate road which borders the busy harbour.
Rauri McLean, who works at Grab A Cab, said he had been friends with Mr Reid, who lived in Peterhead, for 15 years.
Mr McLean said: "Working as a taxi driver was his life.
"Even when he was supposed to be off we had to chase him to go home and nothing was ever too much bother for Graeme."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article