Tributes to mark 20 years since rail tragedy
TRIBUTES WERE paid yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of the Selby rail crash, the worst rail disaster in the UK of the 21st century.
Train horns were sounded at the site of the crash at Great Heck, near Selby, North Yorkshire, in which 10 men lost their lives on February 28, 2001.
They died after a passenger train travelling from Newcastle to London and a fully loaded freight train collided at a closing speed of more than 140mph.
Both train drivers died, alongside two other rail workers and six passengers.
Yesterday, a virtual service which was staged at the small memorial garden in Great Heck saw more then 350 people online join to pay tribute to those that died.
An LNER passenger service slowed and sounded its horn along with a Freightliner locomotive named in memory of Steve Dunn – the driver of the freight train.
Later, a service at Selby Abbey heard from former British Transport Police superintendent Anthony Thompson as he paid tribute to those that died and the 82 people who were injured.
He spoke of the professionalism of responders at the scene, many of whom he said are still living with the mental aftermath of the rail crash.
The widow of one of the drivers killed in the rail crash 20 years ago admitted that she is sad that attitudes towards driving while tired have not changed in the years since the crash.
Mary Dunn’s husband, Steve, was one of four railway workers and six passengers who died when an InterCity passenger service and a fully-laden coal train collided at a closing speed of more than 140mph.
Yesterday, Mrs Dunn reminded those watching an online memorial service to mark the 20th anniversary that the crash was caused when a Land Rover, driven by Gary Hart, careered off the nearby M62 motorway after he had little sleep the night before.
In an online contribution, Ms Dunn told the memorial event: “Twenty years ago this morning an individual wrecked and took the lives of many people.
“That is what we’re remembering today – the ten lost men whose lives ended prematurely and whose futures were stolen.”
She added: “The events which unfolded at Great Heck will not, cannot and should not be forgotten.”
The tragedy happened after the GNER Newcastle to London passenger service derailed as it struck Hart’s Land Rover and was then hit by the Freightliner train which was carrying 1,600 tonnes of coal and coming from the opposite direction.
Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, was found guilty in December 2001 of 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced to five years in prison.
The crash claimed the lives of John Weddle, the GNER driver, Mr Dunn, the Freightliner driver, and eight other men – Steve Baldwin, Alan Ensor, Raymond Robson and Paul Taylor, along with Clive Vidgen, Barry Needham, Robert Shakespeare and Christopher Terry.