The InterCity 225 passenger train was operating 1F23, the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) 04:45 service from Newcastle to London King's Cross with 99 occupants onboard.

[3] It was being driven by 36-year-old Gary Hart on a 145 miles (233 km) journey from his home in Strubby, Lincolnshire, which he left at 04:40, to his work in Wigan.

[6] The accident sequence began at approximately 06:13, when the car left the westbound carriageway of the motorway just before the bridge over the rail line.

[7] After a failed attempt to reverse off the track, Hart exited the vehicle and called the emergency services using his mobile telephone.

[9] After striking the Land Rover, the leading bogie of the Driving Van Trailer derailed, but the train stayed upright.

[10] The freight train collided with the InterCity 225 approximately 2,106 feet (642 m) from the passenger train's impact with the Land Rover, resulting in the near-total destruction of the DVT and moderate to severe damage to all nine of the InterCity 225's coaches, which mostly overturned and came to rest down an embankment to the east side of the track, in a field adjacent to the railway line just south of the second overbridge.

The freight locomotive lost its bogies after impact, with debris from the DVT jammed underneath, rupturing its fuel tank.

[17] Investigators recovered the data recorder of the freight locomotive, but the InterCity 225 had not yet been fitted with one under GNER's rolling programme of installation.

[19] It stated that no defects were found with any of the railway infrastructure that could have contributed to the outcome of the crash, and that the motorway complied with the standards at the time.

[20] A separate investigation into road standards was carried out by a working group set up by the Health and Safety Commission, which brought its own recommendations.

These included carrying out risk assessments at specific locations and collecting data from incidents involving vehicles entering the railway.

The report added "Its design does not appear to complement the crashworthy considerations that guide the construction of passenger vehicles that use the same rail network."

This research should consider several factors, such as vehicle construction and safety features such as obstacle deflectors and bogie retention.

The prosecution alleged that Hart had fallen asleep while driving, after having spent five hours the previous night on the phone to a woman he had met through an advert on an internet dating agency.

[37] In total, Hart's insurers, Fortis, who provided him with an unlimited liability third-party fire and theft policy, paid out £50 million as a result of the crash.

[40] On 30 October 2003, the judge ruled that negligence on behalf of the Highways Agency had not been established, and that Hart was the precipitating cause of the accident.

It carries a plaque commemorating the disaster: "In remembrance of a dedicated engineman Driver Steve (George) Dunn was tragically killed in the accident at Great Heck on 28th February 2001".

[45] GNER honoured the passenger train driver, John Weddle, by naming a new driver-training school in his home city of Newcastle after him.

[47] A stone memorial garden was created close to the crash site, with a plaque which was unveiled by the first person on scene after the accident.