MOTORIST Gary Hart was this afternoon jailed for five years for causing the Selby train crash which killed ten men and seriously injured many more.

He was also banned from driving for five years.

The judge, Mr Justice Mackay, told Hart: "In my judgement were not a victim of the Selby train crash, as you want to portray it - you were the cause of it."

Earlier he had told Hart an accident was almost inevitable because of the way he had chosen to drive without sleep on a long journey with a Land Rover and trailer.

"Your arrogant claim, which you maintained in evidence, that you were not like other people (in not needing sleep) ... was rejected, and rightly, by the jury."

Last month a jury convicted the 37-year-old building contractor of falling asleep at the wheel as he drove across England in cold, snowy weather shortly before dawn on February 28.

Leeds Crown Court heard he had been awake all night, phoning his girlfriend and using the Internet.

As he dozed off at 6.11am, his Land Rover and trailer slid off the M62 at Great Heck onto the East Coast main line into the path of the 5.59am York to London GNER express, partially derailing it.

It collided with a Freightliner coal train seconds later.

Four train crew, including drivers of both trains, and six passengers were killed, and many more people seriously injured.

The jury convicted him on ten charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

Before passing sentence at Leeds Crown Court, Mr Justice Mackay read statements from relatives of the victims describing the impact of the crash upon them.

The High Court judge also read a medical report on Hart, who has received counselling since the crash.

Immediately after the guilty verdicts on December 13, several of the victims' loved ones and survivors said that they were hurt he had shown no remorse about what he had done.

Many of them sat through every day of the trial and court staff made special arrangements for them both then and today.

The jury heard that Hart was drinking strong coffee repeatedly as he drove, had the driver's window wound fully down and the car radio on. He had clipped a kerb earlier in his 70 mile journey when he misjudged a bend, but had not stopped to rest though he had passed several places where he could have pulled off the road to take a nap.

They also heard that he had travelled from his home in Strubby, Lincolnshire, to Wigan in the early hours before and frequently drank coffee as he drove.

Detective Superintendent Peter McKay of North Yorkshire Police, who jointly headed the investigation that brought Hart to justice called him a "mobile catastrophe waiting to happen".

He added: "He could have avoided these deaths, he did not. He alone is responsible."

He called for sleepy motorists to become social outcasts in the same way as drink drivers because of the risk they pose to other people.

Hart was making a 999 call to police next to his Land Rover as the GNER train hit it.

In the aftermath of the crash and throughout his trial, he maintained he was not asleep, and claimed to the jury that his mind could control his body.

The 5.59am express was popular with York businessmen and others needing to be in London by 9am. Survivors of the crash revealed last month that they have started legal proceedings for millions of pounds in compensation.

Click here to view the background to the Selby rail disaster

Updated: 13:45 Friday, January 11, 2002