Selby train crash killer Gary Hart will tonight infuriate bereaved relatives by claiming he is in "exactly the same situation as them". DAN JONES has examined his thoughts.

THE driver who triggered a rail disaster that claimed ten lives has told a TV documentary crew: "I might not be tending graves, but I'm never going to be free, am I?"

Surveying media coverage of his recent release from jail, Hart adds: "This is a grave isn't it? This is my grave and at the moment I'm getting buried by newspapers."

In another scene, Hart is shown burning files of evidence he believed proved his innocence. Getting to a picture of his badly damaged vehicle on the rail tracks, he murmurs wistfully: "I loved that old truck."

Nearly four years on from the crash, One Life will outrage grieving relatives and scores of survivors who already see him as arrogant.

Despite being pressed several times, Hart refuses to apologise for the crash. He maintains it was an accident, he wasn't tired and that he either hit something on the motorway or there was a mechanical fault. When asked if an apology would have helped the bereaved, he states: "I don't think it would have really helped to be perfectly honest." Pressed again on the importance of accepting responsibility, he states: "I'm accepting responsibility for the truth and the truth is not what was heard in the court."

He continues: "They are always going to feel anger and I just want them to know that I have suffered just the same as them.

"I do not think you need to lose somebody to empathise with them. I'm as much a part of this as they are. My family are as much a part of this, with me being in prison it was like bereavement for my children."

Back at the crash scene, he says he finds it "bizarre" an M62 roadside barrier did not stretch over the rail track. "If there had been a barrier there, there would have been no accident," he maintains.

Hart, who says everyone involved in the tragedy has "life sentences", added: "If I had put my hands up and said 'yeah, that was me, I was asleep' I'd have done less time in prison.

"This is not what I'm about. I hope this comes across. This is not Gary Hart the man." The divorced father of four, banned from driving for five years, says he has read insurance company Fortis has paid out about £30 million to victims. He said: "That's a lot of money. I hope they are not going to try and recoup that out of me."

He says he hopes relatives can one day forgive him so they can move in with their lives.

Crying for the first time in the 40-minute show, he says he will always be known as "Gary Hart, the Selby man".

Updated: 10:44 Tuesday, October 26, 2004