The man accused of causing the deaths of ten people in the Selby rail crash saw the faces of the passengers on the express train as it ploughed into his stranded Land Rover, a court heard yesterday.

Gary Hart, 37, was just 20ft away when the GNER train, travelling at 117mph, smashed into his vehicle and trailer on the East Coast mainline near Great Heck, North Yorkshire.

Leeds Crown Court was told Mr Hart described the events to liability adjustor Jeffrey Stagg, three days after the disaster, during an interview at his wife's home, in Louth, Lincolnshire, on March 3.

Reading from his interview notes, Mr Stagg said Mr Hart described how, after the crash, he got out of his Land Rover on the passenger side and dialled 999 immediately.

In the interview, Mr Hart continued: "I was 20ft away when it hit the Land Rover. I was standing to the back of the trailer.

"I saw the people on the train. I saw their faces. I phoned the police again and told them the train had crashed through the Land Rover."

Mr Stagg also said how Mr Hart told him he had spent the previous evening playing computer games, and that he had one hours' sleep.

Earlier, sleep expert Professor James Horne, from Loughborough University, told the jury of seven women and five men that in his opinion Hart had "insufficient" sleep before embarking on his journey to work.

The prosecution claims Mr Hart fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover after chatting for five hours on the telephone to Kristeen Panter, a woman he had met on the Internet.

The trial was adjourned until Monday.