Selby crash driver 'inconsolable'

The driver slid onto the railway tracks but escaped injury

The driver of the Land Rover which careered off the M62 into the path of an oncoming passenger train has been described as "inconsolable with grief".

Ten people were killed and 70 injured in Wednesday's train collision which was sparked off by the car crashing onto the track.

We are trying to cope, but to see all those people killed in that way. A film director couldn't make it up

Martin Taylor
Gary Hart's stepfather

The driver of the Land Rover, 36-year-old Gary Hart, from Strubby in Lincolnshire, walked away from the tragedy with "a few bruises."

The investigation into how the Land Rover came to be on the track is still at an early stage and several possible causes are being looked at.

But the lack of skidmarks on the road, and the straight path of the vehicle once it left the road have led them to consider the possibility that the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

His stepfather, Martin Taylor, said his stepson was finding it difficult to comprehend what had happened.

He said: "We are trying to cope, but to see all those people killed in that way. A film director couldn't make it up."

Freak accident

The Land Rover which was pulling a car on a trailer left the carriageway of the M62 and slid down the embankment onto the East coast mainline railway track at Great Heck, near Selby in North Yorkshire.

Minutes later a high-speed passenger train, travelling at approximately 125 miles an hour, was derailed after crashing into the vehicle.

The derailed train skidded onto the northbound track and ploughed head-on into an oncoming freight train, which was carrying 1,000 tonnes of coal.

The collision, in which the drivers of both trains were killed, has been described by experts as a freak accident.

Bodies which remained in the wreckage overnight were due to be removed on Wednesday.