Van driver who killed grandmother, 68, after her automobile had damaged down on ‘faulty’ good motorway avoids jail

A van driver who killed a 68-year-old grandmother after her car broke down on a ‘defective’ smart motorway has avoided prison. 

Barry O’Sullivan, 45, was driving a grey Ford work van along the M4 when he ploughed into a Nissan Micra that had come to a halt in the fast lane of the motorway.

The collision – which took place during the morning rush hour on the M4 westbound between junctions 11 and 12 – caused both vehicles to propel forward, with the Nissan bursting into flames. 

Pulvinder Dhillon, who was a passenger in her daughter’s Micra, tragically suffered fatal injuries in the collision, which took place on March 7, 2022.

On Friday, O’Sullivan was handed six months’ in prison, suspended for 12 months, after he was found guilty at an earlier trial of causing the death of Mrs Dhillon by careless driving.

It was later discovered a technical failure on the M4 smart motorway network meant radar alerts for broken-down vehicles were not being properly communicated to the control room – and had not been for five days before the crash.

But Judge Amjad Nawaz, sentencing at Reading Crown Court on Friday, said the absence of warning lights should not detract from a driver’s duty to remain alert at all times.

‘Every driver owes the duty of care to other users,’ Judge Nawaz said.

‘The fact that there was no warning lights does not detract from that duty in any way.

‘Nothing the defendant said explained why he didn’t see the car ahead,’ the judge added.

‘There were plenty of cues, and no evidence of slowing down.’

The prosecution had previously told the court that O’Sullivan did not pick up on ‘cues’ that the vehicle was stationary – including the fact that other motorists were taking steps to avoid the broken-down Nissan.

It was also revealed that the car was hit from behind in a ‘high velocity’ and ‘calamitous’ crash which ‘incinerated’ the Nissan and turned it into a fireball.

Mrs Dhillon’s daughter, Rajpal Dene, was dramatically pulled to safety by other motorists. But the pensioner died at the scene. 

The judge said the defendant’s driving that day showed ‘a lack of attention’, adding: ‘There was distraction. What it was that was causing the distraction, we simply do not know.’

The court heard O’Sullivan suffered severe injuries in the crash, with his life expectancy having been reduced as a result.

Prosecutors had played CCTV footage to the jury showing several other drivers managing to swerve past the stationary Nissan before O’Sullivan hit it.

Ian Hope, prosecuting, said previously: ‘The actions of other drivers, and resulting calculations, show that this was an avoidable collision, and that the fatal incident appears to have resulted from a period of inaction on behalf of the Ford van’s driver, Mr O’Sullivan, most likely due to inattention on his part.

‘In other words, Mr O’Sullivan’s driving on the approach to this incident was careless. He simply did not have sufficient regard to what was happening around him.’

Crash investigators determined that O’Sullivan started steering left to try and avoid the Nissan less than half a second before impact, which Mr Hope said was proof that O’Sullivan was ‘not focusing’ on the road.

He had been travelling between 70mph and 82mph.

In an impact statement read out to court by prosecutor Ian Hope, the victim’s youngest son, Manvir Dhillon, said his mother was his ‘best friend’ and that their family was struggling to move on from her sudden loss.

‘Just the day before this horrific incident, she had been at a party, dancing away and living her life to the fullest, as she had always done,’ the statement read.

‘One day she was dancing and the next she is no longer alive.

‘How could we ever forget this and move on?

‘It was so sudden and although it has nearly been four years, we are still unable to fully process this.’

Part of the statement was addressed directly to O’Sullivan, and was also read out in court.

It said: ‘We know you hadn’t set off that morning to take someone’s life but the fact of the matter is that you did.

‘Where is your driving standards, your training? All of these questions remained unanswered because you refuse to admit blame.

‘I am not saying you are the only one to blame but you did have a major part to play.

‘I would have rather you came to me at the very least and admitted you made a mistake or weren’t paying attention,’ the statement added.

‘I can’t say I’d sympathise, but I’d be able to relate as I know how easy it is to lose attention when driving on a long stretch of road.’

In the defendant’s statement, read out by defence barrister Ian Bridge, O’Sullivan expressed his remorse, saying: ‘My heart aches for the family of Pulvinder Dhillon. There is not a day I do not think about how sorry I am about this situation.

‘This is something that will truly haunt me forever.’

O’Sullivan was also told he will be disqualified from driving for 12 months.