A teenager who suffered 2½ years of reconstructive surgery, including having a balloon inserted into her forehead, after a car crash left her with horrific injuries wants to join the police now that she has fully recovered (Melanie Reid writes).

Michelle Andrews, 17, from Banff, Aberdeenshire, was a passenger in a car being driven by a young driver that span out of control, hit a wall and rolled several times. The roof folded in and the sharp edge tore off a huge piece of skin from the top left side of her face, exposing her skull.

Surgeons inserted a balloon into her forehead, gradually inflating it to stretch the skin so it would cover the injury. After her seventh and final operation, Michelle said: “I have really strong views now about laws and people who break them because I was in a car crash. There are so many car crashes up here and people just get away with it. That is the main reason I want to join the police. If people flout the law they should be brought to book.”

She said of the balloon: “The reactions I got from people were really difficult. The last two and a half years have been total hell.” Today. the only reminder of Michelle's injuries is a tiny mark on her forehead.