Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond was airlifted to hospital in Switzerland following a dramatic car crash while filming for his new show.
London – Former Top Gear
presenter Richard Hammond was airlifted to hospital in Switzerland on
Saturday following a dramatic car crash while filming for his new show,
but his injuries were not serious, a spokesperson said.
Hammond, 47, was driving an electric sports car during filming for The Grand Tour when the crash happened, the spokesman for the show said.
« Richard
was conscious and talking, and climbed out of the car himself before
the vehicle burst into flames, » a spokesperson for « The Grand Tour » said in
a statement.
« He was flown by air ambulance to hospital in St
Gallen to be checked over, revealing a fracture to his knee, » it said.
« The cause of the crash is unknown and is being investigated. »
Hammond was involved in a much more serious crash over a decade ago, while filming for his old show Top Gear.
He
suffered serious brain injuries and was in hospital for five weeks
after a Vampire drag racer he was driving burst a tyre and left the
course at 288 miles per hour (463km/h) at Elvington airfield, near the British city
of York, in September 2006.
Hammond recovered and returned to broadcasting and to Top Gear, which aired in more than 200 countries and was watched by 350 million viewers worldwide.
He
left the BBC show along with colleagues Jeremy Clarkson and James May
when Clarkson was fired in 2015 for physically attacking a member of the
production team.
The Grand Tour, an Amazon series, reunites the old Top Gear team. Saturday’s accident occurred during the filming of its second series.
