Barrier safety standards questioned

Just three bridge crash barriers need priority improvements

Safety campaigners have questioned the standards of bridge safety barriers after it emerged that just three were being upgraded as a result of the Selby rail disaster.

Highways Agency officials promised a wide-ranging review after Gary Hart's Land Rover plunged off the M62 motorway onto the railway line near Great Heck, North Yorkshire.

The agency examined almost 500 road bridges that cross major railway lines but found just three that needed a major upgrade.

The new comes on the day Hart's insurers launched a High Court bid to recover some of the £22m it has paid out in compensation over claims the crash barriers at Great Heck were insufficient.

The bridge at the scene of the February 2001 tragedy, in which 10 people died and 76 were injured, is not one of three earmarked for priority safety upgrades.

The investigation found 71% of bridges already matched safety standards, while a further 28% only needed minor improvements.

Gary Hart was jailed for five years

Despite this, safety campaigners say more needs to be done to tighten up current standards.

Mary Williams, of the Brake campaign, said: "The government owes it to the victims of the Great Heck disaster to do something about not only crash barriers at Great Heck, but crash barriers across the country to improve them.

"They're not long enough, they're not strong enough and we know that - independent road safety professionals who examine barriers have agreed with that."

In 2002, 34 vehicles crashed onto railway tracks and three were involved in collisions with passing trains.

Officials say they cannot comment until the current legal action is over.

But the Highways Agency says it takes safety issues very seriously and is committed to reducing the chance of a similar accident happening again.

Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty in December 2001 of ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

He had fallen asleep at the wheel when his Land Rover left the M62 motorway and landed on the railway line.

Moments later it was struck by a high-speed GNER express train which became derailed and then struck a fully-laden freight train travelling in the opposite direction.