The insurers of Gary Hart, the man responsible for the Selby rail crash, have lost the latest round of a legal battle for a contribution towards the millions of pounds they have already paid out in compensation in the wake of the tragedy.

Fortis who have already paid out £22.3 million, which could eventually exceed £30 million, want the transport secretary to make a contribution. This week they failed to persuade two Court of Appeal judges to allow them to contest a ruling made against them by Mr Justice Morland in the High Court last year. Fortis claim that a motorway design defect was partly to blame for the accident and that the Secretary of State for Transport was therefore negligent in constructing a fence inadequate to prevent the disaster.

Mr Justice Morland ruled that negligence had not been established and said that Mr Hart was “the precipitating cause of the incursion on to the railway line”. At this weeks hearing Lord Justice Latham ruled against Fortis and said that an appeal would not bring success.

Ten people died and 82 were seriously injured in the accident which occurred at 6.13am on February 28 2001 when Mr Hart’s land rover towing a loaded trailer swerved off the M62 motorway down an embankment and onto the East Coast mainline track. The GNER train travelling northbound from London Kings Cross to Newcastle hit the vehicle and derailed, colliding with an oncoming freight train. The drivers of both trains were killed in the incident.

Mr Hart of Groby in Lincolnshire, who escaped the collision unscathed, denied falling asleep at the wheel although at his trial the court heard he had been driving in a sleep deprived condition and had failed to apply the brakes as his vehicle went down the embankment. He was found guilty of 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving in December 2001 and was sentenced to 5 years in jail.

An inquest jury returned unlawful killing verdicts.