A SELBY rail crash survivor who feared he would be wheelchair-bound for life will walk down the aisle with his bride this week.

Steward Thomas Kaplanis thought he would never walk again after his back was broken in the crash.

But, thanks to the love of his fiancee, Marie Estrada, the 32-year-old has battled against his injuries and will marry on Friday.

Mr Kaplanis said: "It is very upsetting. I lost a lot of good friends in the crash. I thank God I'm alive.

"That is why my wedding day on Friday is going to be so special. I did not know whether I would live to see it."

Ms Estrada, 29, a staff nurse, agreed to marry Mr Kaplanis last Christmas, after a whirlwind romance, but was left devastated by the Selby disaster.

Ms Estrada, from Newcastle, had been visiting relatives in the Philippines when she heard about the crash in February.

She said: "When I saw him I asked him if he wanted to postpone the wedding. He said 'no'. But I would have got married at his bedside if necessary."

Thomas, originally from Greece, was working as a waiter on the GNER Newcastle to London express when it derailed and collided with a goods train, killing ten people.

Seconds earlier, the train had hit a Land Rover which landed on the tracks after skidding down an embankment.

Mr Kaplanis, who walks with the aid of a stick, said of the crash: "I thought, 'this is it. I'm going to die.' I was just praying."

Of his bride-to-be, he said: "We met last summer and it was love at first sight."