THE catalyst that started the Selby train disaster was the driving of Gary Hart, a jury at Leeds Crown Court heard today.

James Goss QC was making the closing speech for the prosecution, and urging the jury to find Hart, 37, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, guilty on ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

"There has been a good deal of evidence as to what could have happened, what could possibly have happened, if the circumstances had been slightly different, a series of 'what if' proposals," said the barrister.

"When you actually stand back in this case the one direct and immediate human act that was different from the norm and was the catalyst upon which all these events depended, was the defendant's vehicle driving off the motorway and coming to rest on the railway line and there is no doubt of that.

"Without that highly unusual and vital event what followed would not and could not have happened.

"The forces of fate undoubtedly played their part. But in terms of untoward potential human error the basic cause of this tragedy lay we submit in the driving of Mr Hart."

He outlined how the evidence did not support Hart's account of what happened on February 28 on the M62 at Great Heck.

He added that it ruled out any mechanical or other cause for the accident, other than Hart falling asleep at the wheel.

And he told the jury that when they came to look dispassionately and impartially at the evidence their duty would be to find Hart guilty.

The trial continues.

Updated: 14:31 Monday, December 10, 2001