Drivers still using phones despite Bowburn horror crash

People are still using their phones in their cars, despite a police warning after a lorry driver caused a horror smash while distracted by his mobile.

Ion Nicu Onut killed Paul Mullen, David Daglish and partner Elaine Sullivan in a crash iwhile on dating sites.

The BBC went out with PC Piers Hammond and saw a driver using their mobile at traffic lights in Spennymoor in seven minutes of leaving a police station.

He said there could hopefully be "some form of prosecution".

The lorry ploughed into a queue of stationary traffic on a motorway at Bowburn on 15 July 2021, killing three people and injuring several others.

At the time, Onut had been setting up dates online, failing to notice the traffic ahead.

Ion Nicu Onut is serving more than eight years in prison for causing the crash

He was travelling at 58mph when he smashed into Mr Daglish and Ms Sullivan's Vauxhall Crossland. He then proceeded to plough into Mr Mullen's Toyota Hilux, crushing it against another lorry.

PC Hammond said: "I think that was a big case that sprang to mind, it just emphasises the importance of road safety, and this campaign that we're doing to reduce people being on their mobile phone will hopefully eradicate it all together."

The penalty for being caught on your mobile phone is six points on your licence, a fine of up to £1,000, and, depending on the severity of the offence, it can carry a discretionary ban.

On the driver seen on their mobile in Spennymoor, PC Hammond said: "We've pulled him over, given him a ticket, he's not happy that we've stopped him.

"I'll have another chat with him and hopefully this'll be enough to prevent him from doing it again. If he speaks to his friends or family, says he was stopped by the police, then that might be enough for them to think twice."

His final advice for drivers was: "Turn your phone off, put it well out of the way, and then if you're stuck in traffic, there's no temptation to look at it."

David Daglish and Elaine Sullivan from Seaham were killed in the crash