A VICTIM of the Great Heck train disaster who thought he had escaped with severe

bruising and a gash has discovered he broke his neck.

Laurie Gunson spoke today of his shock at finding how close he was to becoming quadraplegic in the disaster in February.

Mr Gunson, 44, of Naburn, near York, was in the buffet car when the York-London train crashed into Gary Hart's Land Rover, which had crashed off the M62 on to the line.

Hart was last week convicted of ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

The Evening Press reported afterwards how the businessman had been thrown

down the carriage and into a wall, but had apparently survived with very deep bruising to his shoulder and a gash on his head.

But continuing pain in his neck over the summer led him to go back to doctors this autumn. Recent MRI and CT scans revealed that two joints had sheared.

"It was caused either by the impact or by whiplash," he said.

Fortunately, his spinal cord was not damaged, although looking back, he suspects a temporary paralysis of his fingers after the accident may have been caused by some bruising to the cord.

Now he has an appointment to see a neurosurgeon at Leeds General Infirmary in January to see what action, if any, should be taken.

He says the broken bones have fused together over the months, but in the wrong position. But he understands a corrective operation could in itself

be dangerous.

Mr Gunson has managed to overcome his nervousness to travel regularly on the London train since the accident, although a trip last Friday - the day after Hart's conviction - had brought back all the trauma of the accident and had proved a particularly nerve-wracking affair.

He said that while he still did not feel bitterness towards Hart, his sympathy had

evaporated as he had heard how the driver had stayed awake all night on the

Internet before setting off on the fateful drive, and as Hart had failed to show any apparent remorse for what had happened.

He hoped the conviction and the ending of the court case would now help the relatives of those who had died in the crash to start rebuilding their lives.

Updated: 11:04 Monday, December 17, 2001