'I still see it every night when I go to sleep': Father recalls moment he watched in horror as his partner and three children were crushed to death by a Polish lorry driver who was scrolling through music on his phone
- Mark Goldsmith watched four family members get crushed by lorry
- His daughter, partner Tracy Houghton and her two sons died in the crash
- Their car was pushed under a heavy lorry and crushed to a third of its size
- Driver Tomasz Kroker, who was using his phone, was jailed for 10 years
A father has recalled the devastating moment he watched as four of his family members were crushed to death by a Polish lorry driver who was using his phone.
Mark Goldsmith was driving behind the Vauxhall that was carrying his daughter Aimee, 11, partner Tracy Houghton and her two sons, Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11.
Lorry driver Tomasz Kroker, 30, smashed into Ms Houghton's car while scrolling through music as he drove along the A34 near Newbury - killing all four in the car.
Three months after the crash, Mr Goldsmith said he cannot stop replaying the moment he watched them get wiped out as they returned from a family holiday.
Mark Goldsmith (right) has recalled the devastating moment he watched as his daughter, partner Tracy Houghton (left) and her two children were crushed to death by a lorry
Ms Houghton's car was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size in the horrific crash (pictured) on the A34 near Newbury
'It was a scene of total carnage. I still see it every night when I go to sleep and when I wake up,' Mr Goldsmith told the Sunday Times.
'I relive that moment every day. One big bang and they weren't there any more.'
Mr Goldsmith said he 'staggered' from his car to see if he could rescue anyone from the mangled wreckage on the busy road in Oxfordshire.
'I started sobbing. I threw up, they had died instantly,' he said.
His ex-wife, Kate, who is Aimee's mother, said Mr Goldsmith had suffered 'severe mental injuries' in the eight-vehicle crash.
She also revealed their son, Jake, who was travelling in Mr Goldsmith's car when the collision occurred, had been 'profoundly changed' by what he saw.
Mrs Houghton's son's Ethan ,13, and Josh, 11, and their stepsister Aimee Goldsmith, 11, (pictured together just days before the crash) were killed instantly in the crash on August 10
Tomasz Kroker (pictured left) was scrolling through his music when he crashed into Tracy Houghton's (right) stationary car
Mark Goldsmith (far right) and his ex-wife Kate (right) have joined with Doug Houghton (far left), who lost his two sons in the crash, and his sister, Vicki Hopkins (left), to call for the mandatory introduction of technology that can detect when a phone is being used by a driver
Mrs Goldsmith said she has not been able to watch the footage of the crash with sound on because she fears the sound of the song played will haunt her forever.
The dash-cam footage from two camera – one pointing into Kroker's cab and one looking at the road ahead – showed the driver looking at his phone, then glancing up just a split-second before impact.
The horrified driver then drops the phone and grabs the steering wheel to prepare for the impact.
Kroker's truck ploughed into a stationary queue of two lorries and four smaller vehicles which were stuck behind a slow-moving articulated lorry near the villages of East and West Ilsley.
Mr Goldsmith's Vauxhall Zafira was shunted into the back of the Corsa containing his daughter, Mrs Houghton and her sons.
Dashcam footage from Kroker's lorry cab shows him distracted by his mobile phone for between seven and 45 seconds before the fatal crash
The camera then captures the moment Kroker realises he is about to crash into the stationary traffic at 50mph
He attempts to brake and swerve but cannot stop in time and crashes into the traffic jam
Mrs Houghton's car was then pushed under a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size.
Kroker, 30, was jailed for 10 years last week over the crash on 10 August.
Judge Maura McGowan said his attention had been so poor he 'might as well have had his eyes closed'.
The families of those killed in the crash have branded the sentence an 'insult'.
Doug Houghton, who lost both his sons and his ex-partner, vented his frustration, saying Kroker 'knew the law'.
'No sentence would have been sufficient. It’s not going to bring our kids back,' he told the Sunday Times.
Aimee's parent's Mark and Kate Goldsmith (pictured) said the 10 year jail sentence handed to Kroker was not enough
Aimee Goldsmith (pictured), who wanted to be a vet, was killed along with stepbrothers when returning from a camping trip
Josh (pictured left) and Ethan (pictured right) were killed when lorry driver Kroker became distracted by his mobile phone
In a heartbreaking victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Goldsmith spoke of her 'absolute and utter devastation' at the loss of her daughter, whom she called 'my hope, my happiness, my balance'.
She also described how after losing his sister Aimee and best friend Ethan, Jake had been 'changed forever', leaving him with little to say and plagued by anger, upset, nightmares and broken sleep.
'Anyone using a mobile whilst driving is guilty of dangerous driving. It only takes a second of distraction to kill someone, destroying your life, your family's lives, and those of your victim and their family,' she added.
The family, from Bedfordshire, were driving back from a camping trip and all died instantly in the horrifying crash.
Remarkably, their beloved pet Labrador, Honey, survived the disaster - after apparently fleeing from the wrecked car and running off.
But the dog now sits by the front door, waiting for the children who will never return.
Kroker, from Andover, Hampshire, admitted four counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Reading Crown Court on October 10.
The Vauxhall was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size
The family, who were driving back from a camping trip, all died instantly in the horrific crash that left their car unrecognisable
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