A woman who died at a rally in the Highlands was crushed after a car came off the track and pinned her under a tree, an inquiry has heard.

Joy Robson's son Dean said he and his mother were moving to a safer spot when the crash happened at the Snowman Rally near Inverness in February 2013.

They decided to move because the spot they were standing in seemed dangerously close to the track, he told the fatal accident inquiry at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

"Unfortunately, it was too late," he said.

The 25-year-old told the inquiry: "As the track was getting more ripped up, the cars were sliding a lot closer and closer to us. It was in that moment we started thinking, 'this is actually quite dangerous'."

He said they decided: "Let's get out of here, something's going to happen" and planned to leave the rally stage as there was "potentially a hazard in every direction".

Mr Robson added: "I had already started walking away from where my mother had got hit by the car. We were moving."

When the accident happened, he said he had started moving down the track and thought his mother was right behind him.

He heard a car coming and turned round to see it looked like it was "potentially going to crash" and he moved into the trees at the side of the track then fell down a hidden dip.

Mr Robson said: "It was only a split-second. She would have been behind me. I thought she was following me."

"I could hear trees crunching, screams and shouts. I looked to see where my mother was and saw that my mother was on the floor. There was a tree hanging over her."

Mr Robson told the inquiry others helped him lift the tree off his mother and said he felt it was a "long time" before paramedics arrived.

He said: "She was in and out of consciousness, screaming and shouting and then passing out."

Ms Robson, a 51-year-old nursery teacher from Portree in Skye, was taken to an ambulance and was successfully resuscitated three time before a fourth attempt failed and a doctor informed she had died.

A man whose son was pinned under the car also gave evidence on Thursday.

The 44-year-old from Inverness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attended the rally with his son, eight, and daughter, five.

Speaking about the accident, he said: "I can recall seeing the roof of a car coming straight towards me and the children, straight down the middle of the trees.

"I threw my daughter into the gorse bushes to the left. By the time I turned back round the car had dropped.

"When I looked down I could see my son with his head and shoulders under the car. His body and legs were sticking out away from the car and he was underneath."

He added: "People came and the car was lifted quite promptly. We managed to slide him out.

"He was shouting, 'Daddy, daddy'. He was injured, there was blood down the side of his face."

The inquiry heard the boy was taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and treated for an injury close to his left eye. He returned home after two days and has since made a full recovery.

The joint fatal accident inquiry is examining the circumstances surrounding Ms Robson's death and the deaths of three other motor sport fans at a separate event in Scotland - the Jim Clark Rally near Coldstream in the Scottish Borders - the following year.