Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond escaped unhurt from a high-speed crash while filming the BBC show, less than a year after he nearly died in a jet-powered car, the BBC said on Tuesday.
Hammond (37) was shunted off the track during an endurance race at the Silverstone track near Northampton at the weekend.
”Richard wasn’t hurt at all, but the car was damaged,” a BBC spokesperson said. ”It was taken back to the pits and repaired before Richard carried on with the race.”
Hammond was taking part in a 24-hour race called Britcar 24 Hour with co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May and the show’s anonymous professional racing driver, ”The Stig”.
The accident happened less than a year after Hammond suffered brain injuries when he crashed at high speed at Elvington airfield near York. He spent five weeks in hospital. The Health and Safety Executive said in an accident report at the time that Hammond had not received sufficient training to drive the car safely.
It criticised the BBC’s safety checks but said the failings did not merit a prosecution. — Reuters