AMBULANCE staff who battled through snow and ice to help victims of the Selby rail crash have been given special honours to recognise their actions.

Nearly 150 staff from Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas) were involved in the disaster, with 30 ambulances moving 77 patients, 30 of them seriously injured, in the space of three hours.

Ten people died in the crash, which happened at Great Heck on February 28, 2001, when a Land Rover towing a trailer left the M62 and ended up on the East Coast Main Line. It was hit by a GNER express train which then ploughed into a goods train carrying a load of coal.

Speaking at the ceremony at York Racecourse on Wednesday, Tenyas chief executive Jayne Barnes told how Selby paramedics Steve Goulden and Bob Chambers were first on the scene.

She said: "By this time, patients were stumbling through a blizzard towards them - some terribly injured and in great distress, but Steve's training dictated he had to walk past them. Although trained to treat the injured, he could not.

"His greater duty at that critical time was to assess the overall situation."

Incident officer, Mike Shanahan said: "I think we were all very proud to be part of Tenyas, at Great Heck. Every member of staff gave their all - above and beyond the call of duty.

"They worked so hard under appalling conditions. I am in no doubt it was their sheer professionalism that made my job so much easier."

The Vice Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Colonel Edward York, presented 60 citations during the ceremony.

He said: "We are all very proud of our ambulance service, myself in particular, having been one of your patients more than once. I would also like to pay tribute to those who work behind the front line, who keep the service going."