OH MY GOD THERE'S A TRAIN COMING

A TAPE of the 999 call made as a passenger train hurtled to disaster at Selby was played in court today.

Relatives and survivors of the 10 people who died wept as the 117mph train could be heard approaching the spot where a Land Rover was stuck on the track after coming off the M62.

Driver Gary Hart, 37, who had scrambled clear, is heard calling on his mobile phone, desperately trying to explain what has happened and where he is. The police control room operator says: "I'm going to need a better location than that." Hart exclaims: "But there's a train coming."

The 999 operator cries: "Oh my God!" as Hart shouts "F***ing hell, f***ing hell". He tells the police: "I just got out in time as the train came through. Someone is going to get killed"

The police operator who took the call, Sarah Pratt, wiped away tears and was handed a handkerchief by a court official. The Newcastle to King's Cross express struck Hart's Land Rover, causing the train to come off the track and plough head-on into a freight train coming the other way. Two train drivers, a chef, conductor and six passengers died in the collision on 28 February this year.

Hart denies 10 charges of causing death by dangerous driving. The court has heard that he fell asleep at the wheel after talking all night to a woman he met on the internet.

A statement from the driver of the freight train was read out at Leeds Crown Court. Andrew Hill said: "I saw a yellowy flash of light on the tracks in the distance. I then saw a train coming towards us at some speed. I kept thinking it would pass us. It was upright. After a short space of time I saw a coach of the high-speed train jack-knife onto our side of the tracks. I was standing up holding onto the control panel. We were on a collision course.

The next thing I saw was the blue livery of the GNER. It seemed to fill our view and we were within touching distance.

"The last thing I remember was being thrown about. I don't remember much of a noise. I remember coming round - I was choking, everything was in blackness."

Co-driver Stephen Dunn, who was among the dead, was driving the freight train and had just accelerated up to 60mph on the East Coast main line approaching Great Heck, near Selby, North Yorkshire, when the signals suddenly turned red.

Pc Garry Robinson, the first officer to arrive at the crash scene, told the court he saw Hart standing behind a barrier waving his arms in the air. He took him to his police car where Hart told the officer he thought he had suffered a "blowout" and his Land Rover had gone onto the railway line. He was asked to undergo a breath test which proved negative.

Pc Ian John told the court he later interviewed Hart after he received attention at hospital in Pontefract.

He said Hart told him he heard a bang from the back of the Land Rover before it began drifting around and left the carriageway, eventually ending up on the tracks.

It was just after 6.10am when Hart's car and trailer careered down an embankment just in front of a railway bridge, the court was told.

Hart, a self-employed builder, from Strubby, Lincolnshire, had been bound for work in Wigan. The front of the Land Rover Defender was left propped up on the tracks but Hart only suffered minor injuries and managed to retrieve his mobile phone from the car.

He dialled 999 and was talking to the North Yorkshire police operator when the 4.45am express struck.

The express derailed to the right of the track but stayed upright, continuing for 500 yards until it was deflected by a set of points, sending it into the path of the oncoming freight train.

The court heard Hart had no more than 45 minutes' sleep in the 24 hours preceding the crash.

The night before the collision he was on the phone to Kristeen Panter, a woman who eight days previously had answered a personal advert he placed on a dating agency website. She had recently separated from her husband.

The court heard that Hart had spent hours talking to her and they sent each other numerous mobile phone text messages. Hart had also been surfing the internet for most of the night, finally turning it off at 3.58am.

Mrs Panter said that as a result of the breakdown of her marriage "it was suggested I may find a male companion by going on the internet".

Referring to the morning of the crash she said: "I did receive a further text message from Gary at about 7.03 on the morning of Wednesday February 28.

Briefly this message stated Gary had been involved in an accident but he was all right."

The trial continues.

Transcript of the 999 call

By Patrick McGowan

THE 999 call Hart made on his mobile phone from the foot of the embankment to the North Yorkshire police control room was timed at 6.12am on 28 February.

Hart: Hello.

Police operator: Hello, you are through to the police.

H: Hello, er, I've had an accident on the M62. I've gone off the road and I'm on an embankment, I'm on a railway line.

O: Oh right, and the vehicle's still on the railway line?

H: Yeah, the ve ... the vehicle's still on the railway line, yeah.

O: Right, OK then, whereabouts on the M62? Which carriageway were you travelling on?

H: I was travelling ... er ... westbound.

O: Westbound. Where have you gone from and to?

H: Oh ... er ... I'm ... I'm just ... I think I'm near the A1.

O: You're near the A1 junction?

H: Yeah, the A1 junction.

O: Right. How far away? Do you know?

H: Er, no. I wasn't far from the M1, it's just where the A1... just where the... the railway line ...

O: Right, OK, it's just that I'm going to need a better location than that, you're through to North Yorkshire police here.

H: But there's a train coming.

O: Oh my God. (sound of train and horn) H: F****** hell, f****** hell.

O: Hello.

H: The train's just gone straight through the front of me Land Rover.

O: Right.

H: It's ... off.

O: Is the train still on the track?

H: Yes.

O: It's carried on going?

H: Still going. For God's sake.

O: Is the car now... Is it off the line now?

H: No, it's, the Land Rover off the line, but there's a car, the car's on the line as well.

O: The car's still on the line?

H: I had a Land Rover with a trailer with a car on the trailer and they're both on the railway line.

O: Right, OK. Then can...can you give me a better location? Do you... you're on the M62 westbound. Where? What was the junction that you were ... that you've just passed?

H: Er... I've just gone past the sign for the services.

O: For which services?

H: For the A1 services, it was seven miles.

O: Seven miles to the A1 services?

H: Yeah.

O: Right. What's your name sir?

H: My name's Gary Hart.

O: Gary Hart. What I'm going to do... I'm going to have to pass this on to ... er...the relevant force and then get them to ring you back on your mobile.

H: OK.

O: OK, yeah. OK then, thanks.

Hart made a second call to the police five minutes later. He said: "I just got out in time as the train came through. Someone is going to get killed if it does not..."

He was told to calm down before the conversation ended.

H: Bye.

O: Bye.

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