Selby bridge barrier 'too short'

Four rail workers and six passengers died in the crash

A High Court judge has been urged to find that a motorway design defect was partly to blame for the Selby rail crash.

Fortis, the company which insured Gary Hart - who was found guilty of causing the disaster at Great Heck, North Yorkshire - is seeking to recover some of the £22.3m paid out to victims.

It claims the Secretary of State for Transport was negligent in constructing and retaining a safety fence that was too short to prevent the crash on 28 February 2001.

Ten people died and 76 were injured when Hart's Land Rover plunged off the M62 onto the east coast line.

Our case is simple. It is that the safety fence on the nearside, west-bound approach to the bridge was too short. Lord Grabiner QC

The Newcastle-to-London Kings Cross express train derailed and collided with a coal train travelling in the opposite direction.

Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty in December 2001 of 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

An inquest jury returned unlawful killing verdicts in September.

Lord Grabiner QC, acting on behalf of the insurers, told the judge: "Our case is simple. It is that the safety fence on the nearside, west-bound approach to the bridge was too short.

"We say that the cost of the extra bit of fence would have been trivial when compared with the consequences, which were appalling."

The safety fence on the bridge approach runs for a total length 42.7 metres.

Gary Hart was jailed for five years

Lord Grabiner added: "We say it should have been about 100 metres in length.

"If it had been, and the vehicle had escaped from the motorway at a point before the barrier commenced, there would have been enough stopping time and the vehicle would not have reached the railway.

"Alternatively, the vehicle would have collided with the safety fence at a narrow angle and would have been redirected back on to the motorway in the direction in which it was travelling, which is precisely what safety fences are designed to do."

The Secretary of State had a duty of care, he submitted, to take reasonable steps to reduce or eliminate the hazard which had been created.

"We say that the duty was breached in 1974 when the motorway was constructed and the breach was repeated in 1993 to 1995 when major refurbishment works were carried out at Little Heck and virtually the entire length of fencing was replaced.

He added: "It is plain that the opportunity to rectify the design defect was missed. Indeed, we say that this is a case where there was an obligation there which was never performed."

It is alleged the failure to build a longer safety fence during the motorway's construction represented a negligent design defect.

It is also alleged the failure to take the opportunity to lengthen the barrier between 1993 and 1995 was negligent.

The Secretary of State says the claim by Hart's insurers is "misconceived and unarguable in law".

The hearing is expected to last two weeks.