Van driver jailed after crashing into grandad on M20 near Maidstone while sending WhatsApp messages
A van driver who sent multiple WhatsApp messages "mere moments" before he ploughed into a grandfather-of-18 on the M20 hard shoulder, killing him in front of his horrified family, has been jailed for almost 10 years. Despite knowing phone use was banned while driving, Ionut Bejan had also edited his chat with work colleagues and changed the group icon when he fatally struck pensioner Zdzislaw Tarbaj just past junction 8 at Maidstone on the evening of February 14 this year.
The 71-year-old had pulled over to the side of the motorway, put his hazard warning lights on and got out of his Kia Carens to investigate a noise coming from the vehicle's rear. But within minutes, a "seemingly arrogant" Bejan who had "assumed his driving would be unaffected by his phone use" came bearing down on Mr Tarbaj in his Iveco Box vehicle, having strayed out of his lane and onto the hard shoulder.
In front of his wife, Krystyna, and two of their five children, he was propelled by the impact over a barrier, landing 10 metres away with "catastrophic and unsurvivable" injuries. Although his family - and 24-year-old Bejan - tried to assist the stricken man before the emergency services arrived, Mr Tarbaj was pronounced dead at the scene. Maidstone Crown Court heard yesterday (November 12) that the "senseless" incident was a double tragedy for the family as they had been on their way to attend the funeral of Mrs Tarbaj's mother in Poland.
Both vehicles were on the coastbound carriageway heading to Dover at the time of the smash.
Bejan, a Romanian national with no previous convictions, was driving for a logistics company based in his homeland and, having left Corby in Northamptonshire that day before loading the van in Swanscombe, he was travelling to the port with a delivery destination in Italy. That same day Mr Tarbaj and his wife had left their home in Wakefield, picked up their daughter, Gabriella, and son, Bartek, and were driving via the M20 to catch a ferry. It was at around 10.10pm that a sound came from the Kia, causing Mr Tarbaj to stop, indicating as he moved across from his lane, switching on his hazards once he had stopped and then getting out.
Ten minutes later, the fatal collision occurred, with the impact on the Kia captured on its own dashcam, the court heard.
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Bartek Tarbaj later told police he saw the van approaching and driving "too close" to the hard shoulder, but his warning shouts to his father were in vain, and he watched as he was hit and thrown into the air. Having stopped at the scene, Bejan was subjected to various roadside tests by police, giving zero and negative results for alcohol and drugs, respectively. Although he passed an eyesight test, he told officers he had not seen the victim.
But having subsequently admitted causing death by dangerous driving, it was explained at his sentencing hearing that as well as his van's weight being found to be overloaded by almost 45%, analysis of his phone revealed his WhatsApp engagement over an 11-minute period. Prosecutor Dominic Connolly told the court: "Mr Bejan was part of a WhatsApp group at work and between 22.06 and 22.17, he sent nine messages on this group, one of which was edited and editing cannot be done with hands-free software.
"It is also known that he edited the group's icon between 22.16 and 22.17....choosing a photograph, which in this case was a screenshot of a message, before then tapping 'Done'." Having detailed the process of editing both manually, Mr Connolly added that in the aftermath of the collision, which occurred at 10.20pm, Bejan sent another message to a colleague saying he had been in a crash and stating "People on the motorway.
No high vest (sic), no triangle. I didn't see them." The impact of Mr Tarbaj's death on his relatives was said to be profound, with the circumstances of the incident itself "haunting" those who witnessed it.
In a moving victim personal statement read to the court, Gabriella Tarbaj spoke of an "incredible person" who "embodied kindness and wisdom, with a heart vast and open, filled with compassion and understanding".
She also described how the horror of the sight and sound of the crash was a "constant and unbearable replay" in their minds.
"These are not just memories, they are wounds that will never heal. That image seared, playing over and over, especially in the silence of the night," wrote Ms Tarbaj. "That image is with me always and plays behind my eyelids every time I try to sleep.
The sound of shattering glass, the thud, the chaos - it's still there, unrelenting. "The loss does not end with us [wife and children]. He was a grandfather to 18 grandchildren.
Each of them he cherished dearly. He was their hero, their storyteller, their guiding light." Referring to the fatal collision, Ms Bejan continued: "The man responsible didn't simply cause an accident.
Through his actions he took a husband, a father, a grandfather. He shattered lives.
"This was not a tragic twist of fate. It was negligence - a reckless choice that ended a life."
Bejan, of Laburnum Grove in Hereford, had been driving for his employer for four months and in January this year had been fined while in France after the van was found to be 500kg overloaded. On the night of the M20 incident, the van weighed 5,055kg when the maximum authorised weight was 3,500kg. However, Mr Connolly said although the defendant was responsible for checking and ensuring the Iveco was correctly loaded, it had not been possible to determine whether the excess weight had contributed to the crash, nor were there any vehicle defects.
The court also heard that an examination of the Kia did not identify any contributory faults.
At the start of mitigation, Bejan's lawyer James Harrison said his client wished to pass on his "deepest condolences" to the victim's family, adding he was "genuinely devastated and very sorry" for his conduct and the harm caused. "Every member of his family misses his presence - being there to offer his advice, kindness and curiosity about each of them and their lives..." In telling the court the WhatsApp messages had not been of any importance, he added the defendant will be "grappling with his stupidity" for the rest of his life.
"Through me he offers no excuse for his driving on that fateful day. He tells me the messages were of no consequence," explained Mr Harrison. "They were not inquiries about the work he was undertaking but banal, everyday conversations.
"He is ashamed of having been on his phone that night.
He tells me as he entered the motorway it was clear, as all the witnesses have attested to. "I surmise it was that relative lack of traffic that caused him to conclude so rashly that it was appropriate to use his phone. Clearly, it was not."
But Mr Harrison also highlighted the positive side to Bejan, explaining he was regarded by others as "a hard-working, industrious and empathetic man with integrity and honesty", and was a model prisoner having gained enhanced status with 16 commendations while on remand. Passing sentence, Judge Catherine Moore told the court the victim was a devoted and loving man who had "touched the lives of so many" before being killed in "such a traumatic and terrible way" in front of his family.
Adding that the loss of his life would be enduring, she said: "Every member of his family misses his presence - being there to offer his advice, kindness and curiosity about each of them and their lives. "They each feel his absence profoundly, day by day and hour by hour."
She also explained it was "impossible" to try and place a value on Mr Tarbaj's life or quantify the pain felt, and that it was the court's task to apply the law and reach a "just and proportionate" sentence. "It is abundantly clear that your entirely senseless actions, prioritising engaging in conversations with workmates and trivial actions such as changing a group icon, meant that your attention was distracted..." But on jailing Bejan for nine years and nine months, Judge Moore told him his offending was aggravated by a number of factors, including his role as a professional driver, his victim being vulnerable by his presence on the hard shoulder, the van weight and by his WhatsApp use.
"Those actions in editing messages and changing the group's icon inevitably meant you were focusing and interacting with the [phone] screen, despite the fact you were driving a large vehicle on a motorway," she said. "It is abundantly clear that your entirely senseless actions, prioritising engaging in conversations with workmates and trivial actions such as changing a group icon, meant that your attention was distracted. "You knew that using a mobile telephone while driving is prohibited both in the UK and in Romania where you grew up.
Seemingly arrogant, you assumed your driving would be unaffected by it. "But you were not concentrating on the road and your failure to do so had tragic and entirely avoidable consequences." Bejan, who will have to serve two-thirds of his prison term before release, was handed a driving ban of 13-and-a-half years to account for the time that will be spent behind bars.
He will also have to take an extended test to regain his licence. Investigating officer, Detective Constable Kayleigh Archer, said: "A devoted husband, father, and grandfather has lost his life due to the reckless decisions and negligence of one man. "Bejan chose to use his mobile device while driving, he chose to knowingly drive an overloaded van, and in doing so he chose to break the law.
"The victim's family, who were present at the time of the incident, have been left traumatised by the loss of whom they describe as a 'hero, storyteller, and guiding light'. "We hope the lengthy custodial sentence imposed by the judge brings them some closure. "Our message to all motorists is to drive responsibly; observe the speed limit, do not use any mobile devices while driving, remain alert and ensure your vehicle remains roadworthy throughout the journey.
"Failure to follow the law could cost lives."