A MOTORIST died and 12 people were injured last night when a van careered onto a railway line and hit a train - on the first anniversary of the Selby rail disaster.

The awful coincidence immediately brought renewed demands for improvements to the safety of road barriers near railway lines.

On February 28 last year, ten people were killed near Selby when a Land Rover ran onto the East Coast main line and was hit by a GNER express which in turn collided with a coal train.

Last night's disaster occurred only hours after relatives had held a trackside prayer vigil to mark the first anniversary of the tragedy.

The Mercedes van was virtually cut in two after smashing through a wall running parallel to the track and falling 20ft on to the line near the village of Nocton, in Lincolnshire.

It was struck at 6.23pm by the Birmingham to Sleaford train, operated by Central Trains. The Sprinter train, with two carriages, had 50 people on board.

The front carriage was derailed and 12 people received medical treatment at the scene. Three were taken to hospital on stretchers.

Inspector Dick Holmes, of Lincolnshire Police, said: "They have minor injuries, things such as whiplash and cuts and bruises.

"The driver of the train has also been injured but it is my understanding that he is also not serious as he was walking around at the scene."

The train would have been going at between 40mph and 50mph because it had recently passed a level crossing.

Central Trains spokes-man Gerard Burgess said: "The driver would have hit his brakes when he saw the vehicle in front of him. It is awful bearing in mind it is one year to the day since the Land Rover slipped on to the track at Selby".

Six commuters and four railway staff died in the Selby disaster when builder Gary Hart, 37, of Strubby, Lincs, fell asleep at the wheel of his vehicle and plunged off the M62. Hart was convicted last year of ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving and jailed for five years.

The Northern Echo has since campaigned to improve the safety of barriers at railway bridges over the East Coast main line.

Work has since started at four bridges in North Yorkshire and another four in County Durham - but confusion over who foots the repair bill means most are untouched, despite another 40 such incidents during the last year.

On Monday, a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report called for a risk assessments for thousands of bridges -but even high risk sites were only expected to be completed within two years.

Last night, industry expert Professor John Knapton, of Newcastle University, called for immediate action in the wake of the latest tragedy. He said: "The HSE report on Monday estimated that there wouldn't be another such accident for 300 years and yet it has happened in just three days.

"It said we should spend the next 15 months talking about this and prioritising the work that needs doing. It's time to forget the chat and build the barriers.

"I hope this accident convinces the HSE and the Highways Agency to stop prevaricating and start putting some concrete into the ground to save lives."

Speaking before yesterday's crash, Chris Tunstall, Durham County Council's senior engineer, said action on dangerous bridges was needed immediately.

Mr Tunstall said: "The worry is that no one is still getting round to doing anything. We should be saying, let's get on with the repairs and accept who pays for them as another issue to be dealt with later."

His view was echoed by Selby survivor John Dunwell from Aiskew, in North Yorkshire, who attended yesterday's ceremony at the Selby crash site. He said: "After Selby the experts said what happened was a million-to-one chance. This latest crash shows that it wasn't."