Small wonder that the grieving relatives of the victims of the Great Heck train disaster were seen to be distraught, along with the police officers involved, at the sentence imposed by the court on Gary Hart (Five years is not enough, January 12).

While no prison sentence will ever bring back lost loved ones, they can be forgiven for saying that justice was not seen to be done.

Brian France was sentenced on June 4 last year at York Crown Court for killing six people on the A1 after ploughing into two vehicles at the scene of an accident.

He received a sentence of six years and was banned for eight (M-way carnage driver is jailed, June 4, 2001).

Mr France pleaded guilty to all charges and wrote letters of apology to each of the relatives of his victims and accepted his fate unflinchingly.

Hart, however, despite being responsible for the deaths of ten people, appears, from the judge's summing up, to have been deceitful, somewhat arrogant and showed no remorse for his actions and even less consideration to the bereaved of those victims.

The relatives can surely be forgiven for claiming that justice clearly doesn't seem to have been done when Hart receives a lighter sentence, (five years and a five-year driving ban).

Both incidents were disasters which everyone hopes will never be repeated, but when one compares the judicial outcomes of both incidents, it is little wonder that discontent arises as to the inconsistencies of the legal system.

K L Sandercock,

Woodlands Avenue,

Wigginton, York.

...WHAT good will come from putting Gary Hart in prison for five years? He was a fool and should be punished - but not in jail. There are far better things he ought to be doing.

David Quarrie,

Lynden Way, York.

Updated: 10:21 Friday, January 18, 2002