A fatal rail accident near Lincoln on the anniversary of the Selby rail tragedy set pulses racing at the Lincolnshire Echo.

It happened when a vehicle left the road and collided with a train at around 6.30pm yesterday.

The Echo printed two hours early at 8.30am today and took out the first four pages of the paper for First Edition.

For Final Edition, photographer Ian Jubb went up in a microlight aircraft to get aerial shots of the scene. Shortly afterwards police made the area a no-fly zone.

The Echo had already carried in-depth copy on the Selby crash because the man found guilty of causing it was from Lincolnshire.

Staff from around the county were pulled from other jobs to cover the latest incident, between Lincoln and Sleaford, in which the van driver was fatally injured.

Assistant content editor Wendy Inkster was the first reporter on the scene within 15 minutes of the crash. She was able to get within yards of the train before police cordoned off the area.

Wendy gave a vivid account of the scene for the paper and was joined by reporters Ben Rooth, who was in the office at the time finishing a feature. Night reporter Matthew Bayes also attended the scene.

Reporter Dan Sharp who heard about the accident went to Lincoln County Hospital where the casualties from the train were taken.

And picture editor Stuart Wilde, who was taking photo at a under-10 girls’ football match, left that job to work at the scene. Photographer Ian Jubb, who was on a day off, rang Stuart as soon as he heard and was the first of the photographers at the scene.

Photographer Anna Draper also joined the team. They worked throughout the night and were supported by photographer Richard Addison who was primed by Stuart to get to the scene at first light for a fresh front page picture which he sent back from the scene.

Design editors Tony Price and Chris Hutchings with deputy editor Richard Bowyer put the pages together.

A press crew and pre-press crew also came in early to ensure the paper hit the streets early. 3,000 extra paper were printed.

Editor Michael Sassi said: “It was a tremendous effort by all those involved. I am delighted how quickly and professionally all departments reacted to a major breaking news story.

“It was an astonishing coincidence for this story to break on the first year anniversary of the Selby train crash.”

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