‘Horror’ M4 crash killed passenger as ‘car burst into flames’
Barry O'Sullivan, 45, was driving a grey Ford work van along the M4 on March 7, 2022, when he collided with a Nissan Micra that had come to a halt in the outside lane of the motorway. The crash - 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 the Nissan, suffered fatal injuries.
At Reading Crown Court on Tuesday, February 10, O'Sullivan told jurors he crashed into the broken-down car in the fast lane of a smart motorway, which failed to warn drivers of the stationary vehicle. He has told a court the fatal collision "wouldn't have happened" if he had been "forewarned". 
Jurors have now also heard new evidence from Darren White, who was driving his BMW X1 to Swindon on the day of the collision. He said he called the police immediately after noticing the stranded vehicle and recalled being "quite hysterical" on the phone. Recalling his conversation with the officer, he said: "I do remember saying to him, 'please put the overhead gantries on'."
"They asked me what lane, and at that point I was answering him, but I was repeatedly saying to him 'please get the overhead gantries on'." O'Sullivan, the driver of the van which crashed, also suffered multiple injuries in the collision which were not fatal, and he was not wearing a seat belt at the time. He told the court he would "pay the price of that for the rest of my life" and explained that on a "conventional motorway", motorists could move into the hard shoulder.
"Whereas you don't have that luxury on a smart motorway, so you're trapped to some extent and you're reliant on back-up systems which then alert the public behind you if you have trouble," he said. O'Sullivan said he had "never" encountered a stationary vehicle on the motorway, adding: "I have seen plenty of broken-down vehicles on the hard shoulder and often with a recovery vehicle. "All of a sudden I realised I'm gaining on this vehicle really fast, then I went to slam the brakes on and then before I knew it the collision happened."
The motorist said he believed that if he had not hit the car, then somebody else would have.
O'Sullivan, of Wixams, near Bedford, has pleaded not guilty to one count of causing death by careless driving.
The trial continues.