SURVIVORS and relatives of those who died in the Selby rail disaster were today reliving their nightmare after a chillingly similar tragedy.

On the same day they had shed tears of remembrance at Great Heck, on the first anniversary of the crash, many returned home to learn of another tragedy.

A driver was killed near the village of Nocton, Lincolnshire, after his van crashed through a wall and careered down an embankment on to rail tracks, yesterday evening.

In an incident echoing events at Great Heck, the van was then struck by a commuter train which derailed.

Andy Hill, who was on board the freight train struck by a GNER express at Great Heck, said hearing of the crash brought that terrible day flooding back.

"It was terrible. I had held it all in all day during the anniversary services and then I sat down and heard about this crash," he said.

"It was all just too much. I was transported back to Great Heck."

Yesterday's crash came only five days after two rail reports, issued by the Highways Agency and the Health and Safety Commission concluded that work to prevent a repeat of the tragedy could not be given instant priority.

The HSC report, which was slammed by Selby survivors, said that blanket measures to make all road and rail bridges safe would "waste large amounts of time and effort that could be used to achieve much greater safety improvements elsewhere."

The two agencies put forward a raft of 19 separate recommendations.

These included carrying out a risk assessment of locations to see if new safety measures were needed in the next 12 months.

The two reports, the product of nearly a year of research acknowledged that the risk of another Great Heck-type accident was not "insignificant".

Today, survivors were once again coming to terms with their grief, and called for new action to improve safety.

Mr Hill added: "This does need looking into again but, given what happened at Great Heck, you would have thought they would have done this in the first place."

Survivor Mark Russell, of York, added: "It was quite extraordinary to see another crash on the same day.

"I hear this vehicle managed to come through a wall. If that's the case then something is very wrong.

"There needs to be a broad review of previous statements. This crash shows that this type of accident can happen at any time."

Margitta Needham, whose husband, Barry, died at Great Heck, added: "These terrible events took me right back to a year ago. It sent shivers down my spine."

No-one at the Highways Agency or the Health and Safety Commission was available for comment as the Evening Press was published.

Updated: 14:41 Friday, March 01, 2002