CHRIS TITLEY begins the final part of his review of the year with the disaster that shook North Yorkshire

Transport

"But there's a train coming."

"Oh my God!"

This exchange between Gary Hart and the 999 operator was punctured by the klaxon of an express train before it sliced through his Land Rover at 117mph. Knocked off the rails, the GNER engine then collided head-on with a goods train coming in the opposite direction. Within seconds, a scene of carnage and mayhem had erupted at the village of Great Heck near Selby.

Ten people died and scores were seriously hurt. Emergency service workers performed heroics amid the mangled wreckage to keep the death toll down.

Initially, it was reported that the Land Rover had suffered a tyre blow- out, causing it to plunge from the M62 on to the East Coast Main Line.

Police later found no fault with the vehicle. Hart, who had hardly slept the night before, was later convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

Prince Charles attended a memorial service at York Minster. No one will ever forget that terrible, snowy day in February.

Even without Great Heck, it was another bad year for Britain's transport networks.

At its annual general meeting in York, Railtrack bosses apologised for their shoddy service (one train arrived in York four hours late). But it wasn't enough to save the company: Transport Secretary Stephen Byers later forced it into administration, infuriating shareholders.

GNER, bidding for the 20-year-franchise to operate on the East Coast Main Line, was given just a two-year extension.

On the roads, 53 people were hurt when a coach and a lorry collided on the A64 near York Racecourse in September.

First York announced it was spending £11 million on a fleet of buses. This was not enough to appease those passengers unhappy about the new Metro system; neither did it deter vandals who continued to target the buses.

Concorde was back in service more than a year after the Paris crash.

An airliner carrying 255 people plummeted into New York, two months and a day after the September 11 suicide hijackings - but a terrorist attack was soon ruled out.

Plaxton's the coach makers threatened to pull out of Scarborough, but later won a £5 million order to secure its future. In Greece, a group of Dutch and British air enthusiasts (okay - plane spotters) were arrested and accused of spying. Among them was Andy Jenkins from York. After spending weeks in jail they were freed on bail.

Health

More than 100,000 hearts, brains, lungs and other organs were still being held by hospitals and medical schools across England, many without the knowledge of the dead patients' relatives, according to a report by the Government's Chief Medical Officer in January. Many bereaved parents in North Yorkshire were devastated by the news. By August, York Health Trust said it was to return all the body parts taken.

York District Hospital received a triple boost with funding for new facilities for eye patients and those with ear, nose and throat ailments, plus plans for a new car park.

The cash was urgently needed.

Tony Blair admitted it was "totally unacceptable" that 82-year-old York man Philip Thomas-Peter should have to wait until November 2002 for an appointment with an eye specialist.

In July, 130 hospital beds were blocked by elderly patients waiting for a place in a residential care home.

The care home crisis deepened as several closed; the owners blamed Government bureaucracy.

Politics

It was the most boring General Election ever, enlivened only by the Prescott punch.

None of the local seats changed hands and Labour scored another landslide on a much-reduced turnout.

William Hague resigned as Tory leader, to be succeeded by Iain Duncan Smith.

Earlier, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson had resigned from the Government for the second time in just over two years in the wake of the Hinduja brothers passport row.

Outgoing Yorkshire East Tory MP John Townend caused a race storm when he said the British were becoming "a mongrel race" because of immigrants.

In October, the IRA started decommissioning their weapons in an historic move to save the peace process.

That consummate political charmer, former US President Bill Clinton arrived in Britain and declared "I love York!"

Anti-capitalist protesters clashed with police in Genoa in August as world leaders arrived in the Italian port city for the G8 summit. One demonstrator was killed.

Royalty

The royals had their fair share of troubles again. But at least it wasn't as bad as in Nepal, where the Crown Prince massacred most of the country's immediate royal family in a dispute over his choice of wife. Princess Margaret suffered a stroke which affected her sight and mobility.

The Countess of Wessex stepped down as chairman of her public relations company in the wake of the "Sophie tapes" in which she slighted senior royals and top politicians to reporters posing as potential clients. Later she suffered an ectopic pregnancy.

Prince William enrolled at university. A portrait of the Queen by Lucien Freud drew a mixed response from art critics ("looks like a corgi chewing a wasp" said one).

Showbiz and sport

Former Beatle George Harrison died of cancer, aged 58.

The marriages of Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise and Kate Winslet and her North Yorkshire husband Jim Threapleton collapsed.

Elizabeth Hurley, 36, announced she was pregnant by millionaire film producer Stephen Bing.

York singer Hayley Bamford hit the nation's TV screens as a contestant in hit show Pop Idol. The original series, Popstars, had engineered Hear'Say.

Comedian Jack Dee won Celebrity Big Brother which raised millions of pounds for Comic Relief.

Father-of-two Stuart Lubbock, 31, died in hospital after he was found unconscious in a swimming pool at the home of entertainer Michael Barrymore.

Channel Four stood by its decision to air satire show Brass Eye as the programme came under mounting criticism for "trivialising" child abuse issues.

The first Harry Potter film, partly filmed on the North York Moors railway at Goathland, was a massive hit. Lord Of The Rings was hailed as an instant movie classic.

A1 thrilled their York fans with an appearance at Asda.

In sport, York City chairman Douglas Craig stunned fans by announcing the club was up for sale. In February the club had bid £1 million to buy the former Lumley Barracks, but later it was revealed City was losing £24,000 a week.

The UK Snooker Championships, held for the first time at the Barbican Centre, were hailed a huge success.

England celebrated an historic 5-1 victory over Germany in Munich. The Evening Press racehorse failed to set the turf alight.

Yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur, 24, from Derbyshire became the fastest woman to circumnavigate the world.

Campaigns

The Evening Press said no to Son of Star Wars, the American missile defence system involving the bases at RAF Fylingdales and Menwith Hill. Most readers backed the idea for a Yorkshire Day Bank Holiday on August 1.

Thanks to our generous readers, we reached the £2 million target in our appeal to build a new annexe at St Leonard's Hospice.

Less successful was the Save The Frog campaign. York pub, the Frog Hall, looks set to be demolished next year.

After the A64 upgrade caused traffic gridlock in and around the city, we urged the council and Highways Authority to Get York Moving. And following the tragic death of 14-year-old Jamie Bucknell, from a heart defect, readers rallied to our Jamie's Have A Heart Appeal and raised enough money to buy 12 portable heart monitors.

Updated: 10:32 Friday, December 28, 2001