Inverness pair beat off red tape to trade by A9 but crash writes business off
An Inverness couple who spent years to win the right to be the first outlet to sell food on the A9 roadside in Badenoch have said they have 'lost it all'. A costly crash at lay-by 82 at Drumochter - from where their weekday operation had been run for some 16 months - has forced them out of business. "We're devastated," Liz Cullerton (58) told HNM, "as we put everything we had into this and we have lost it all."
She and husband Hamish (67) live in the Highland capital but have become honorary Badenoch residents during the week since finally winning their trading licence in December 2024.
Their triumph only came after an almighty struggle with the jungle of govenmental red tape which had restricted roadside trading since the 'new' A9 was constructed in the 1970s. "Unfortunately we were involved in a bad road traffic accident on our way to work four weeks ago," said Mr Cullerton. "We have waited to check everything out fully before deciding but have now decided to call it a day.
"It's been a very tough decision because working at that spot has not just been a personal, pioneering project, it's introduced us to the world.
"Travellers who stop there for a bite literally come from around the globe and that has been so special. We will miss it terribly but we just are not able to carry on." The couple said they were 'badly shaken up' in the accident.
Mr Cullerton fractured his shoulder while his wife was so traumatised by the accident that she no longer has the confidence to work in the trailer.
The unit will be repaired, in time, and sold off.
Picture: Keith Ringland
They made history and celebrated their first anniversary at Highland Cuisine last year by getting formally engaged. Mr Cullerton proposed on one knee, presenting Liz with a ring - which was actually a donut - next to their business and passing traffic. They duly married - with a real one - in Inverness and looked forward to continuing their double life working week days by the Highlands gateway before returning to the Highland capital for the weekends, after leaving their trailer on a local sporting estate courtesy of a friendly laird.
"We were not able to establish anything permanent on the lay-by because it would have entailed a whole new fight of going through planning permission," explained Mr Cullerton. The couple won plaudits from A9 users after winning through against a policy which was agreed by the Scottish Development Department when the A9 route was first identified.
Services by the new trunk road were banned to protect business in the bypassed communities through which the old A9 had travelled. The route was identified in the 1970 white paper for Scotland's roads as one requiring major improvement.
Initial plans had been to provide bypasses and only limited investment But concern was raised by some local communities that business may die out due to the removal of through traffic. The policy to protect the bypassed communities was quietly dropped by the Scottish Government in the 2010s in then new national planning policy blueprints.
RELATED STORY: How they got started[1]
'With this donut I thee wed'[2]
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References
- ^ How they got started (www.strathspey-herald.co.uk)
- ^ 'With this donut I thee wed' (www.strathspey-herald.co.uk)
- ^ here (www.inverness-courier.co.uk)