A police report on the Selby rail crash which claimed ten lives is expected to go to the Crown Prosecution Service in the next two weeks, it was revealed today.

It will be up to the CPS to decide, on the basis of the report, whether to bring charges against Gary Hart, 36, the Land Rover driver whose accident led to the crash.

Police officers will be conducting a further interview with Mr Hart, from Strubby, in Lincolnshire, before finalising their report.

Mr Hart was carrying a Renault car on a trailer when his Land Rover left the M62 some distance before barriers protecting a rail bridge close to the village of Great Heck, near Selby, just after 6am on February 28 this year.

Meanwhile, on the fifth anniversary of it winning the East Coast Main Line franchise, York-based GNER is reporting a 35 per cent increase in passenger numbers since the Hatfield tragedy in October last year.

Passenger numbers on GNER services dropped by 50 per cent following the imposition of more than 100 speed restrictions on the East Coast Main Line in the wake of the Hatfield disaster.

Updated: 10:30 Tuesday, May 01, 2001