The car driver at the centre of the North Yorkshire rail disaster was towing a trailer that had no brakes, it was reported today.

Without brakes, the trailer would be unstable and liable to "snake" or jack-knife if driver Gary Hart braked sharply in his Land Rover.

No one from North Yorkshire Police or British Transport Police would confirm the claims today.

But a source close to the incident told the Evening Press that the report was substantially true.

The source said Mr Hart, 36, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, could now face one of a number of charges. Manslaughter was a possibility, but was "unlikely in a situation like this."

Other charges that could follow the crash range from causing death by dangerous driving to less serious offences such as driving without due care.

A North Yorkshire police spokesman said today: "A comprehensive and painstaking inquiry into the accident is still going on. No decisions have been taken.

"The driver has not been formally interviewed and no date has been set for the conclusion of the investigation."

Ten people - including four from York and one from Selby - died after Mr Hart's Land Rover and its trailer, which was carrying another car, veered off the M62 motorway at Great Heck early on February 28.

It plunged down embankments on the main East Coast rail line where the car was struck by a passenger train travelling at 125mph.

The express then collided head-on with a freight train loaded with 1,500 tonnes of coal.

Legislation introduced 15 years ago - the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 - stipulates that trailers above a certain size and weight must have independent brakes. This is to ensure that the towing vehicle and trailer both brake evenly.

If a trailer has no brakes, and the towing driver slams on his own brakes, the trailer load will cause an imbalance and make it likely to "snake along" or jack-knife.

Road safety experts say that, in these circumstances, the towing vehicle and trailer would be almost impossible to control.

The disaster has recently been reconstructed over a number of days by North Yorkshire Police and other experts.

The crash investigation is being headed by British Transport Police with the help of detectives from the North Yorkshire, Humberside and West Yorkshire forces.

Updated: 12:06 Wednesday, April 04, 2001