|
|
|
MAN ON SELBY DEATH CHARGESSun, May 20, 2001Source:THE driver of the Land Rover involved in the Selby train disaster has been charged with causing ten deaths.THE driver of the Land Rover
involved in the Selby train disaster has been charged with causing ten deaths.
Gary Hart, 36, was accused of
causing all the victims' deaths by dangerous driving after weeks of inquiries
into the February 28 crash. Hart was at the wheel of a Land Rover towing a
trailer, which careered off the M62 on to the East Coast Main Line.
An early Newcastle to London express
hit the stranded vehicle, derailed and then crashed into a freight train coming
the other way. Both train drivers died along with eight other people and 76 were
injured in the horror at Great Heck, near Selby, North Yorks.
The charges follow intensive
investigations by police and transport experts into why the Land Rover left the
motorway. Forensic experts re-assembled the remains of the vehicle, paying
special attention to the condition of the trailer and its braking system.
Father-of-four Hart had set off from
his home before dawn towing the trailer with a Renault car on it. He has always
denied that he had fallen asleep when he suddenly veered off the motorway just
after 6am. British Transport Police said he had
been interviewed throughout yesterday afternoon at Grimsby Police headquarters
after turning up voluntarily with his lawyer. After being charged he was released
on police bail to appear before Selby Magistrates Causing death by dangerous driving
carries a maximum sentence of ten years, although judges have discretion over
multiple deaths. Hart's mother Margaret declined to
comment at home near Louth, Lincs. Widow Lee Taylor, whose train chef
husband William was among the dead, said: "I do not want to prejudge anything
but an open court case is the best way for the truth to come out."
|
|
