THE family of a woman who died after being trapped in a car for three days following a crash has condemned the First Minister's comments about the tragedy.
Lamara Bell , 25, lay injured for about 72 hours following the accident on the M9 in Stirlingshire on July 5 after the police failed to follow reports of a crash.
She died in hospital four days after she was found while it is thought her partner 28-year-old John Yuill died at the scene.
READ MORE: M9 crash deaths my lowest point as First Minister - Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon described the episode as the “lowest point” of her time as first minister and said it had been a "dreadful failure".
But Ms Bell’s brother Martin blamed cuts to control room budgets under the new national force structure for the police delay responded to the crash.
And he questioned the SNP leader for backing former Chief Constable Sir Stephen House over the incident.
"The question my family would like put across to Nicola Sturgeon is does she regret backing these cuts and Sir Stephen House?" he said.
“We agree that not everything will go right but do people deserve to die while they put in place all these cost-cutting changes to a service that worked fine before all this change?”
READ MORE: M9 crash deaths my lowest point as First Minister - Nicola Sturgeon
Mr Bell said the warning that Mr Yuill's car had left the motorway would have been handled better before the single force was introduced because local officers would have investigated.
And he told the Scotsman: “How many more people have to die needlessly before it all gets put right? Respect and trust have gone. I have people I don’t know mail me everyday telling me about bad experiences they have had with (the non-emergency number) 101.
“We are nine months on and still have no answers. We have been left hanging, going over the same thing in our heads over and over. My family is slowly starting to crumble with each day that passes.”
An investigation into the incident is currently being carried out by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc).
Despite that, however, she said she was "very proud" of the SNP's record on policing, including the merger of eight regional forces to create the national body Police Scotland.
READ MORE: M9 crash deaths my lowest point as First Minister - Nicola Sturgeon
Ms Sturgeon, who took over as First Minister from Alex Salmond in November 2014, was speaking for the first time asking Scots to elect her into the role.
"With any public service, not everything will go right all of the time," she said.
"The dreadful failure in terms of the call that went unanswered at the police which resulted in a terrible tragedy for two families, that was obviously tragic beyond words for the families concerned.
"It's still under investigation, so I can't say too much more, but as First Minister you do feel these thing very deeply."
She added: "We're very proud of the work that we have done to keep extra police on the streets, to create a single police force which allows us to cut out a lot of unnecessary duplication and bureaucracy in the police service, and therefore spend more money on frontline policing."
With polls putting the SNP on course for a second majority at Holyrood after May 5, she said her biggest challenge is "convincing people that success for the SNP is not guaranteed".
READ MORE: M9 crash deaths my lowest point as First Minister - Nicola Sturgeon
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