Gary Hart RELATIVES of a Trowbridge train driver killed in the Selby rail disaster are angry that the man responsible is to be released from prison this month.

Gary Hart is to be freed after serving half a five-year jail sentence for causing the death by dangerous driving of 10 people, including 39-year-old Stephen Dunn.

This week the victim's parents, Leslie and Patricia Dunn, have hit out at the decision to allow Hart's early release.

Mrs Dunn said: "It makes me very angry. It just isn't long enough. He should have got 10 years, one for each of the people who died.

"He has got his life. His children can go out for a walk with their father, our grandchildren can't ever do that again.

"I don't know why judges give sentences that are never served but there is nothing we can do about it so we will just have to live with it."

Hart, a self-employed builder, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court in December 2001, after the February 28 crash at Great Heck.

The Land Rover he was driving ploughed off the M62 onto the East Coast line, where it was hit by the Newcastle to London express train.

The train derailed and smashed head-on into the Mr Dunn's 1,800-tonne Freight-liner coal train.

The court heard that Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, had fallen asleep at the wheel after an all-night online chat session with his girlfriend.

He continues to protest his innocence and denies having fallen asleep.

Mrs Dunn said: "He has never shown any remorse or apologised for what he did.

"There is no doubt in our minds that he fell asleep. Ten people died because of it and that is a lot of lives affected."

Stephen Dunn, a former pupil at The Clarendon School, grew up in Trowbridge and had always dreamed of being a train driver.

His first job on the railways was at Westbury train station and he had moved to Yorkshire with his wife, Mary, and their two sons, just three years before the disaster.

The tragedy was the second to hit the Dunn family, coming almost 10 years to the day after their youngest son James died after mixing alcohol and medication at a wedding party.

Mr Dunn said: "We try not to dwell on it and to get on with our lives, that's all we can do really."

Mr and Mrs Dunn now make regular pilgrimages to the scene of the crash, where a memorial garden has been created in memory of the 10 victims.