Selby train crash motorist Gary Hart caused the disaster in which ten people died because he fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover, a court heard today.

Hart, 37, of Church Lane, Strubby, Lincolnshire, had not been to bed the night before the tragedy, and had spent five hours on the telephone to a woman he met on the Internet, said James Goss QC, prosecuting.

Mr Goss told a packed courtroom at Leeds Crown Court that since the previous morning, Hart had driven 145 miles from Wigan to Strubby, then had only had an hour or three-quarters-of-an-hour's sleep before going around to his wife's house, nine miles away in Louth.

He returned home at 9.30pm, spent about five hours on the phone to Kristeen Panter, whom he had met through a dating agency website, before setting out again for Wigan at about 4.40am.

The court heard disaster struck on February 28 this year when Hart's Land Rover, towing a trailer carrying a Renault Savannah, drifted off the M62 and came to rest on the southbound East Coast Main Line

Hart sustained minor injuries but escaped through the passenger door of the vehicle and made a 999 call. While he was on the phone to the police control room, a GNER passenger train travelling at 117mph struck his Land Rover.

The front of the train was derailed and 500 metres further down the track, it struck a set of points before colliding with a Freightliner train travelling at 47mph in the opposite direction.

In the resulting collision ten people, including both train drivers, were killed."The explanation for the vehicle combination leaving the carriageway is that the driver simply fell asleep at the wheel," said Mr Goss."He had not slept the previous night and had not even gone to bed.

"He had spent five hours on the telephone to a lady he had met on the Internet. We say he must have been aware of his sleepiness before succumbing and that was dangerous driving which tragically caused the death of others."

Mr Goss added that there was no evidence of any mechanical failure on the Land Rover.Earlier, the court was hushed as Hart declared his innocence with the simple words "Not guilty".

Then the jury of five men and seven women was sworn in.The court's public gallery was entirely filled with the families and relatives of the ten victims, apart from a small bank of seats which was reserved for survivors of the crash, Hart's family, and court officials.

Interest in the case is so intense that a second court, Court No 7, has been turned into an annexe with an audio-link so that relatives and members of the press, who cannot fit into Court No 5, can hear what is going on.

About 130 people in total are believed to have attended today's hearing.

Next Tuesday, a section of the M62 is expected to be closed so that the jury, the judge, and others involved in the trial can visit the scene of the crash.

Every one of the 25 people who came into court as potential jurors was asked if they had any connection with Railtrack, GNER, Freightliner, or the Highways Agency, or if they had any connection with any victim or any person involved in the investigation into the crash.

Those who died in the disaster were the two train drivers: Stephen Dunn, 39, of Brayton, near Selby, who was in charge of the cargo train involved in the crash, and John Weddle, 47, of Throckley, near Newcastle, who was in the cab of the GNER train, business manager Clive Vidgen, 47, of Bishopthorpe, York, churchwarden Christopher Terry, 30, of York, civil engineering project manager Alan Ensor, 44, of Dunnington, York, freight logistics co-ordinator Barry Needham, 40, of New Earswick, York, Professor Steven Baldwin, 39, of Piccadilly, York, and IT manager Robert Shakespeare, 43, of Beverley, who were all passengers on the express train; and GNER customer operation leader Raymond Robson, 43, of Whitley Bay and buffet car chef Paul Taylor, 42, of Longbenton, Newcastle. The case continues.

Updated: 13:59 Wednesday, November 28, 2001