TIME has not been a great healer for Tonia White and her family.

Their lives changed forever after Tonia’s parents, Tony and Pamela Adams, were among seven people killed in one of Britain’s worst motorway crashes.

The couple had spent the day in Taunton with their daughter, her husband Phil and their grandchildren on November 4, 2011.

After enjoying a fish and chip supper, Mr and Mrs Adams said their goodbyes and headed home for Newport.

But tragically, they had just driven onto the M5 at Junction 25 when reduced visibility caused by dense fog led to a 34-vehicle pile-up, claiming seven lives, while 51 others were injured.

“It doesn’t get any easier after 13 years,” said Tonia, from the family home in north Taunton.

“My parents have missed all the things you should be doing together as a family - my children getting married, knowing their great-grandchildren.

“I feel cheated. It’s a big hole that can’t be filled.

“It’s difficult to understand why it happened. My parents were good people. Why were they taken when lots of horrible people get away with everything? I struggled with that.

“We don’t get over it. That pain is so horrible. I don’t want anybody else to go through that.”

Tonia, who was born in Germany, where her father was stationed with the Army, and her six siblings enjoyed idyllic childhoods.

They regularly moved as Mr Adams was posted to various locations, spending time in places such as Anglesey and the Outer Hebrides.

By the time she was 11, the family settled in Newport.

Her parents were Scout and Guide leaders and Tonia was a Queen’s Guide. On leaving school, she took her first job as a dental nurse.

She married at 20 and moved with her husband to Hong Kong for 18 months, after which the couple, who had two children, returned to Britain, living in Portsmouth, then Bristol and Watchet.

By then, she and her husband had separated and she later met her second husband, Phil, with whom she has four children. There are 13 grandchildren.

Living in Taunton, they worked at McDonad’s drive-thru at Hankridge - Phil doing morning shifts, Tonia evenings, so they could look after the children. Later they worked together in the daytime.

More recently, Tonia has been a dental receptionist and nurse cover; a cleaner; and currently a medical PA at Musgrove Park Hospital. She is also Phil’s full-time carer.

She frequently replays in her head the last time she saw her parents.

She told them she loved them as they hugged goodbye before driving off on that fateful day.

“I said, ‘Phone me when you get home’. That was a call we never got,” said Tonia.

Phil added: “I still see their faces when they said goodbye. It pains me to this day.”

Tonia says she hides her true feelings in public.

“I build barriers. I don’t let people in,” she explained.

“People think I’m confident and strong, but I’m not really. I don’t often show my softer side.

“As a family, we’re really close. That helps because they understand and are very supportive.

“I used to see mum and dad at least once a month. We talked really often.

“My dad had a degree in theology and used to preach in the Church of Wales. Mum was supportive and used to read in church.

“I share their faith. When I visit the bridge (overlooking the crash site) and the sun comes through, I think, ‘That’s them looking down’.”

Tonia is determined to utilise her time to the full. As well as work and caring for Phil, she spends plenty of time with the grandchildren and is completing a course in business administration.

She said: “Phil and I want to see and do things we never could before because we’ve always had the children as top priority.”