A SERVICE of remembrance will be held in North Yorkshire later this month to mark the tenth anniversary of one of the country’s worst rail disasters.

On Monday, February 28, the anniversary of the Great Heck accident will be marked by a special service at St Paul’s Church in Hensall, near Selby.

The service, which is open to the public, will remember the ten people who were killed in the accident, when a GNER train was derailed by a Land Rover which had crashed on to the track at Great Heck, then collided with a Freightliner train travelling in the opposite direction.

Three members of the GNER crew, six passengers and the driver of the freight train were killed and 82 passengers were injured.

Speaking to The Press last month, the Archdeacon of York, the Ven Richard Seed, said he believed the anniversary of the event should be marked.

Yesterday Mr Seed welcomed the remembrance service.

He said: “I am glad that the very sad situation at Great Heck is being remembered by this service.

“My thoughts and prayers are with those people for whom it will be a very difficult time.”

The service of memorial and reflection will be attended by rail employees, families of the victims, representatives of the emergency services and local government, and other officials who were involved with the incident, as well as representatives from the railway industry.

The Rev Stephen Sorby, a railway chaplain, will lead the service, and a short address will be given by the Bishop of Doncaster, The Right Reverend Cyril Ashton.

Some members of railway staff will also participate, and the service will include the lighting of ten candles to remember each of those who lost their lives in the accident.

The service also will be relayed outside the church on speakers for those unable to join the congregation inside.