A CATALOGUE of remarkable coincidences played a prominent part in the events that led to the Selby rail disaster, an inquest heard yesterday.

Deputy North Yorkshire coroner David Hinchliffe re-opened the hearing at Harrogate's Majestic Hotel more than two years after ten people were killed in the accident at Great Heck on February 28, 2001.

And, for the first time, relatives of the victims heard how circumstances conspired to rob them of their loved ones.

Gary Hart was convicted of causing their deaths by a Crown Court jury in December 2001.

The jury decided he fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover while towing another car on a trailer along the westbound carriageway of the M62.

The vehicles left the road and careered down an embankment, coming to rest on the East Coast Main Line.

But accident investigator PC Steven Shone told yesterday's hearing that Hart would not have ended up on the tracks if he had been driving an ordinary car.

Hart's Land Rover was built to perform off-road and so did not overturn once it left the motorway.

A lighter vehicle towing the trailer would almost certainly have jack-knifed before it left the road and was, therefore, less likely to have ended up on the railway.

PC Shone revealed there was an additional factor which helped Hart's vehicle reach the tracks.

Soil slippage beneath the motorway bridge had partially filled a trough between the trackside and the railway line and, as the ditch was now shallower than it should have been, Hart's vehicle travelled further than it would have done almost anywhere else - just enough to stop with one wheel on the southbound track.

Minutes later, the vehicle was hit by a London-bound GNER express travelling at an estimated 120mph.

Video evidence shown at yesterday's hearing illustrated just how little time the train driver had to react - although passengers remembered feeling the brakes being applied just before the impact.

However, the man who led the disaster inquiry - Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Bracken of the British Transport Police - confirmed the train would probably have been travelling much slower only days before the accident because of speed restrictions because of work on the track.

Although restrictions were still in force for trains travelling north, they had been lifted on the southbound line only 48 hours earlier, which meant the GNER express was travelling at full speed.

The train jumped the rails almost as soon as it hit Hart's Land Rover - but, Det Chief Supt Bracken said, even then, the driver should have been able to stop safely.

In the event of a derailment, GNER locomotives are designed to remain upright as long as they can maintain a straight line - and the track at Great Heck should not have presented a problem.

But the express clipped points at the Plasmoor sidings, which forced it further to the right and into the path of an oncoming freight train.

Giving evidence for Freightliner, Timothy Shakerley said the locomotive and the coal wagons it was pulling had left their depot near Leeds at 4.17am that morning.

That was 43 minutes ahead of the allotted departure time and put the vehicle on a collision course with the GNER train. The inquest heard even a few minutes may have made a difference.

Mr Shakerley confirmed the investigation had revealed the express's derailment had triggered warning signals further south to warn on-coming trains of danger ahead.

However, by then, the Freightliner train had already passed and therefore continued on its way at a steady 57mph.

The hearing continues.