Metal 'caused Selby crash'

The passenger train collided with a fully-laden coal train

The Selby rail disaster which killed 10 people was probably caused by a piece of metal from a Land Rover, an inquest has been told.

Six passengers and four railway staff were killed in the crash near the village of Great Heck, close to Selby, North Yorkshire, on 28 February 2001.

Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Bracken said the derailment was "probably caused" by metal from the vehicle, which had plunged on to the East Coast mainline from the M62 motorway.

The Land Rover driver, Gary Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, was convicted of 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced to five years in jail in January last year.

Det Ch Supt Bracken was a detective superintendent with British Transport Police and the senior investigating officer for the crash.

He used pictures of the crash scene and a computer-generated reconstruction of the collision to help the inquest jury.

Det Ch Supt Bracken told how the Land Rover, towing a trailer, left the M62 motorway and landed on the railway track where it was struck by a GNER express train.

Selby victims Steve Baldwin, N Yorkshire Steve Dunn, N Yorkshire Alan Ensor, N Yorkshire Barry Needham, N Yorkshire Ray Robson, Tyneside Rob Shakespeare, E Yorkshire Paul Taylor, Tyneside Christopher Terry, N Yorkshire Clive Vidgen, N Yorkshire John Weddle, Tyneside How the crash happened

Five metres after that collision, the train derailed into the path of a coal train carrying 1,800 tonnes.

The weight of the two trains was 2,500 tonnes with a combined impact speed of 140mph.

He said: "The derailment was probably caused by a piece of metal falling off the Land Rover in a position between the railhead and the lead wheel of the train."

Det Ch Supt Bracken said the early February morning was dark and the driver of the GNER train would have had a little or short view of the stranded vehicle.

The train derailed and remained upright after the collision with the Land Rover and had slowed to about 90mph at the time of impact with the coal train.

Det Ch Supt Bracken said the coal train had slowed to 54.2mph at the point of impact but would have needed a braking distance of one and a quarter miles.

The inquest is expected to last five days and is being held by West Yorkshire Coroner David Hinchliff at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate.