A LORRY driver from Galashiels who killed three people when he drove into stationary traffic on the A1(M) near Durham in July 2021 has apologised to the families of the victims and warned other drivers not to follow his example.

Ion Nicu Onut, was accessing dating sites on his phone for about 40 minutes before the crash which took place at 6.15pm on July 15 at Bowburn.

The Romanian national was jailed for almost nine years following the incident which resulted in the deaths of David Daglish and Elaine Sullivan from Seaham and Paul Mullen from Washington

An interview with Onut from prison feature in a BBC documentary about the crash which also includes interviews with witnesses and relatives of those killed.

During this interview he said: “I never had the chance to apologise, to say sorry to anybody.

“When I seen the videos, I don’t know I can’t explain its unimaginable, so tragic and hard to see. It’s so disturbing knowing that was me in that lorry ploughing through the cars.

“To be on the phone for two or three seconds, if you drive 60mph you can travel a few hundred yards definitely. The phone was a distraction. It was a bad choice, a really bad choice. It was the wrong time and the wrong place it just happened.

“I can’t turn the time back to change anything. I haven’t got the power to do that. I wish I could.

When asked what he would say to the families of the victims he broke down in tears and said: “There is a million things I can tell people but I want to apologise. I want to say I am really sorry because I feel really bad for what happened.

"I feel bad for the people who lost their loved ones, and the people that were injured and had to suffer with back flashes and injuries for the rest of their lives.”

“It’s hard, it’s truly hard to accept that plus living for the rest of your life with that in your head is not easy either. I don’t know what else to say.”

Detective Constable Natalie Horner who led the investigation into the crash told BBC Breakfast: "It still makes you tingle thinking about how traumatic it was for everybody.

"It's so sad to think those people died that day and could have been saved if [Onut] hadn't been on his phone.

"He was a normal guy that made that decision to drive whilst he was on his phone.

"He is where he should be serving his sentence, but on the other hand he does want to show people he is human and made this huge life decision.

"I don't think there is anybody at that scene who won't forget that day but I just hope something good can come out of something so traumatic."

Insp Kevin Salter said: "This is the perfect example of a normal guy with a normal job going out to work that day, who didn't intend to kill three people and he's made that devastating decision."

The documentary ‘Deadly Browsing – The Lorry Driver is available to view on BBC iplayer.