Survivors and relatives of those killed and injured in the Selby train crash met at the scene of the tragedy today to mark the first anniversary of the disaster.

At 6.15am - the time the GNER express train and freight train collided on February 28 last year - about 25 people gathered at the Great Heck site in North Yorkshire for an act of remembrance.

As relatives and survivors stood close to the rail tracks, a passenger train and a freight train passed each other slowly in the darkness, sounding their horns.

A short time earlier, Mary Dunn, the wife of freight train driver Stephen Dunn who was killed in the disaster, walked to the spot where her husband's locomotive crashed and left a bouquet of flowers.

Other relatives stood in silence, some arm in arm, for several minutes in a nearby field.

At 11am around 250 survivors and relatives of those killed and injured in the tragedy gathered close to a garden of remembrance created near the scene of the crash for a service of dedication.

Andy Hill, the surviving freight train driver, unveiled a memorial plaque at the entrance to the garden while Mr Greg Cooper, a local farm worker who was one of the first on the scene of the disaster, unveiled a plaque in the heart of the garden.

During the 15-minute service, conducted by railway chaplain the Rev Miles Mitson, a minute's silence was observed which was ended with the sounding of the Last Post. During the service some members of the congregation bowed their heads while others wiped away tears.

Mr Mitson said: "We are here today, in the presence of God, to dedicate the garden to the memory of those 10 men whose lives were so unexpectedly taken from them in such cruel and tragic circumstances.

"With special thoughts for the bereaved, the injured, the survivors and all their families, and those who gave of their time and services during this tragedy and its aftermath."

At the end of the service Hannah Cairncross, the niece of Raymond Robson, a conductor on the GNER service, laid a flower at the foot of a five-foot stone memorial. A spokeswoman for Railtrack said trains had been prevented from passing the site during the service of dedication.

Following the service the survivors and family members whose loved ones had been killed, spoke of their feelings.

Margitta Needham from New Earswick, whose husband Barry was killed in the disaster, said: "The story of the Selby crash should be told over and over again. It must never be forgotten, that is why it is important the memorial garden is here.

"It is important for all of us to meet and share our pain. Each of us can reach out to each other."

Bob Brook, from Haxby, York, a timetable development manager for Railtrack, survived the crash and said today's service had been important.

"It was nice to see at 6.15am two trains passing normally, life goes on. It has been a traumatic year for us."

Later this afternoon a private memorial service will be held in Selby Abbey attended by the victims' families, survivors and representatives of the emergency services.

Ten men - six commuters and four railway staff - lost their lives in the disaster which was caused after builder Gary Hart, 37, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover and plunged off the M62 and on to the East Coast mainline.

Moments later his Land Rover was hit by a southbound GNER express train travelling at 117 mph which then collided with a train carrying 1,600 tonnes of coal.

He was convicted at Leeds Crown Court last year of 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed in January for five years.