Judge visits Selby crash bridge

Four rail workers and six passengers died in the crash

A High Court judge has visited the scene of the Selby rail crash to help him decide if the design of a motorway safety barrier was partly to blame.

One lane of the M62 motorway was sealed off as Mr Justice Morland inspected the crash location, near to Great Heck, North Yorkshire.

Fortis, the insurers of Gary Hart - the Land Rover driver who caused the crash - claim the safety barrier was too short to prevent the tragedy.

The company is seeking a contribution from the Highways Agency towards the £22.3m it has already paid out to victims and their families in the aftermath of the crash.

Those costs could rise by a further £12m by the time all claims have been fully settled.

Five-year sentence

Ten people died and 76 were injured when Hart's Land Rover plunged down a grass verge and landed on the East Coast main line, causing a GNER train to derail.

The Newcastle-to-London King's Cross express train then collided with a fully laden coal train on 28 February 2001.

Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, denied falling asleep at the wheel but was found guilty in December 2001 of ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

He was jailed for five years.

An inquest last month returned verdicts of unlawful killing on all the victims.

The hearing will resume in London on Friday.