A woman has bravely met the lorry driver who caused a catastrophic motorway collision that killed both her parents - and says he’s “just a normal man… I was able to forgive him”.
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00:0010-999 calls coming in for the A1M northbound, one lorry on fire and a five car crash at
00:14Bullburn by Luxor.
00:15Yes, yes, do you want a full closure on top of 61?
00:18Yes, yes.
00:19Stop, stop.
00:20Northbound and southbound between 60 and 62, total closure.
00:25My auntie Jolie answered and she says, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
00:30And I just couldn't get anything out of her.
00:32I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
00:34And I just, I said, will you tell us what the hell's going on?
00:38And she says, I'm sorry, your mum and dad's passed away in a car accident.
00:45Jesus Christ.
00:46LA327.
00:49Stand.
00:51Given the gravity and the size of this scene, I suggest we call out additional accident
00:56unit, because it's literally like a bomb's gone off.
01:01There's two deceased that are badly burned.
01:05Definitely deceased, maybe more in the vehicle that's been hit by the heavy.
01:10Guy over there who's been hit by them is the driver of this wagon.
01:13This one here?
01:14Yeah, Eon somebody.
01:15What happened?
01:17Well, everything happened too fast.
01:18Everybody pulled the brakes super fast.
01:20OK.
01:21Well, not super fast.
01:22I didn't have time to react, you know, for such a big machine.
01:25Yeah, yeah.
01:26You know?
01:27And it wasn't until New Year's Eve of 2021, thereabouts, that the police told us that
01:35we'd been using his mobile phone.
01:38Have you got your mobile phone with you at the moment?
01:40Absolutely.
01:41Could I take that from you, please?
01:42Yeah, please.
01:44Of course, I knew my phone was in my pocket, and I knew it's going to come up.
01:51If people get involved in accidents and people die, you can't hide that.
01:56It was a bad, bad choice, a really bad choice.
02:02His barrister apologised to the family on his behalf, but I wanted to hear it out of his mouth.
02:08I wanted to see for myself whether he was being true.
02:13I wanted him to know that she left grandchildren behind, the person that they both were.
02:19They were people.
02:21There weren't a name in the paper.
02:23In my head, originally, I wanted him to be a monster.
02:27I wanted him to be this horrible, nasty man.
02:30And when you meet him, you go, well, you're not.
02:33But why are you not this person that I wanted you to be?
02:39You're just a normal man.
02:41The way I could describe it was like sitting with a friend, having a conversation with a friend,
02:45about what you'd been through.
02:47And in my mind, I never gave it a thought.
02:51I know this sensibly.
02:52I never gave it a thought that this man is the man that killed my parents.
02:58I didn't plan to do any harm.
03:00I didn't plan to, you know, it was just another day in my work.
03:03You know, but just, it didn't mean to be like this.
03:08You know, it's, I'm so sorry.
03:12In another lifetime, we could have been friends.
03:15There was no aggression in the conversation that we had.
03:19It was an accident.
03:20Weight had been lifted off my shoulder because I was able to forgive him.
03:27And from day one, I said I didn't hate him.
03:33And I chose not to hate him.
03:35Simply and solely because hate, if you carry hate with you, it wears you down.
03:43It was just like a release.
03:45It was over.
03:47I'd done everything I possibly could.
03:50I couldn't bring my mum and dad back.
03:52And I know, and I'd said this to him as well.
03:54I said if my mum and dad were here now, they'd have given you a cuddle.
04:01They would want us to do this.
04:03And they would have forgiven you as well.
04:06So, and I got the opportunity.
04:08And I shouldn't want to make him feel better.
04:12But I also didn't want him to carry this burden with him.