SELBY rail crash survivors reacted angrily today after learning that a TV show was to recreate a train disaster in the same week grieving relatives found out how their loved ones died.

The inquest on the ten men who died at Great Heck - including six from North Yorkshire - began today in Harrogate.

By coincidence, the BBC1 series Casualty will return on Saturday night with a "blockbuster" two-parter surrounding a train crash.

The BBC's website features a column, Tina's Soap Psychic, which says today: "There's a huge train crash and dozens of seriously injured and dead passengers.

"It's one of the biggest stunts the BBC has ever done. And it's bound to be emotional after the real life train disasters."

That has angered those who experienced Great Heck. They say the timing and tone of the programme is extremely insensitive.

Mark Russell, a train guard, who was on one of the stricken coaches at Great Heck, said: "I think the BBC has been a bit unthinking.

"I won't be watching it, and I think it will be hard for the families of those people who died in the crash."

Janine Edwards, who was injured in the crash, said: "This is really bad of the BBC. It is just wrong to do this at this time."

The BBC is investigating the complaints.

The inquest into the crash, which happened on February 28, 2001, opened today before a jury at the Majestic Hotel.

The incident happened when a GNER express train struck a Land Rover which had plunged off the M62 and on to the East Coast mainline. The derailed train hit a freight train.

Bereaved relatives and survivors of the crash were today among those witnessing the last investigation into the disaster.

Deputy North Yorkshire coroner David Hinchliff told the jurors their job was not to apportion blame, but to find the truth.

Ten men died and 70 people were hurt when a Freightliner train was in collision with a York to London express which had been partially derailed by a Land Rover driven by Gary Hart, 39, of Hunters Lodge, Church Lane, Strubby, Lincolnshire.

He is now serving five years for causing the ten men's deaths by dangerous driving.

The jury heard he had probably fallen asleep while driving along the M62 at Great Heck.

Det Chief Superintendent Nick Bracken, of British Transport Police, told the jury the derailment of the GNER train was possibly caused by a fragment of the Land Rover passing between the rail and one of the leading wheels of the express engine.

The train's driver had little if any sight of the Land Rover before the collision and no chance of stopping in time, even if he applied the emergency brake, said the policeman.

Det Chief Supt Bracken said the GNER driver had no chance of braking in time to prevent the crash.

After being partially derailed by hitting Gary Hart's Land Rover, the train careered on towards an oncoming freight train at three miles a minute. The trains crashed about 15 seconds later.

Detective Chief Superintendent Bracken said that because it was dark and because the GNER 0600 York to London express was travelling at 125 mph, the driver would have had little chance to see the Land Rover, which had landed on the railway after falling down the M62 embankment.

Although some passengers noticed the train braking, the train would have needed a mile and a quarter to stop on the emergency brake, said the policeman.

Both trains were travelling within speed limits. They collided because the GNER train was no longer completely on its tracks.

Mr Hinchliff said it was "miraculous" that one of the coaches on the GNER train remained upright after the two collided at Great Heck.

Updated: 14:24 Monday, September 08, 2003