THE Land Rover involved in the Selby train disaster was in good working order, a jury heard today.

Ian Martin Charlton, of Humberside Police, told the jury at Leeds Crown Court that he had examined all three road vehicles that ended up on or near the East Coast main line at 6.12am on February 28. He said he found no mechanical defect that could have contributed to the vehicles leaving the carriageway of the M62 at Great Heck.

The Land Rover's driver, Gary Neil Hart, 37, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, denies ten charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

The prosecution alleges that he fell asleep at the wheel and the Land Rover, towing a trailer with a Renault 21 Savanna estate, slid off the motorway onto the railway where it was in collision with a GNER York to London express, which then collided with a Freightliner coal train.

The trial continues...

Updated: 14:19 Monday, December 03, 2001