THIS is the shocking moment a van smashed into a car on a busy motorway, killing a grandma.
Pulvinder Dhillon, 68, died after her daughter’s Nissan Micra was struck by a van travelling at speed on the M4.
CCTV footage of the busy highway from March 7, 2022, shows the car stationary on the fast lane westbound between junctions 11 and 12.
Other vehicles can be seen swerving out of the fast lane to avoid hitting the broken down car driven by Pulvinder’s daughter, Rajpal Dene.
After six minutes of being stranded, with no hard shoulder to move safely onto, a grey Ford Transit Connect work van driven by Barry O’Sullivan hits the back of the Nissan.
The collision – which took place on the M4 westbound between junctions 11 and 12 – caused both vehicles to propel forward, with the Nissan bursting into flames.
Rajpal was pulled to safety from the wreckage, but the pensioner from London, died at the scene.
At Reading Crown Court, jurors heard a transcript from a police interview between O’Sullivan and an officer at Milton Keynes police station in August 2022.
O’Sullivan told the officer that he felt “fresh” and “intently alert” in the morning of the collision.
The van driver then went on to say that he was “well aware” of the section where the collision took place as he had travelled down it “many times”.
He told the officer that “there was no indication of anything untoward on the matrix boards or the gantries or anything like that,” adding that there was “definitely no warnings“.
The driver said he learned afterwards that a safety feature on the smart motorway system was defective in the days leading up to the collision.
O’Sullivan said it’s “not safe” to operate as a smart motorway without this feature working, which he said wasn’t on the day of the collision.
He added: “Had I been notified I would have acted, and I definitely wasn’t notified.
“I’m certain had this system been working I wouldn’t be here now and I wouldn’t have collided with that vehicle.”
Second before O’Sullivan collided with the Nissan, he said perceived it to be “moving with the flow of traffic“, adding there were no hazard lights on and no doors open.
“When I realised the vehicle was stationary, I immediately hit the brakes, but unfortunately I couldn’t avoid the collision and unfortunately we collided,” he told the officer.
O’Sullivan said he could not feel his legs after trying to open the door and get out of his van following the fatal crash.
He was taken to Reading hospital but his injuries were severe and the decision was made to send him to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
Martin Jones, a driver from the M4 on the morning of the collision, also gave evidence to jurors on Wednesday.
Jurors heard from him about the several interactions he has had with National Highways about the operation of the smart motorway.
In relation to the day of the collision, he said: “At that point I had probably about a dozen or so interactions with National Highways about problems I had encountered.”
Jones said this included “vehicles being stationary and there being no warnings about it”.
The motorist said these interactions culminated in a meeting with National Highways.
Jones told the jurors: “That I didn’t want to travel along a motorway, nor my wife or any of my family, on a motorway that wasn’t safe.”
The motorist had contacted the police and National Highway about the stationary car on the day of the fatal collision.
The collision was “not a comfortable thing to be reminded about,” he said “but it’s something that I’m reminded of on a regular basis because I still drive that stretch of motorway.”
Jurors were previously told that on the day of the collision, the smart motorway was not functioning, and “wasn’t showing messages about any obstructions in the road ahead”.
O’Sullivan, of Wixams, near Bedford, has pleaded not guilty to one count of causing death by careless driving.
The trial is still on going.
