Former England captain Andrew Flintoff has been airlifted to a hospital after suffering a horror car crash in Surrey while filming an episode for BBC’s TV Show.
The 45-year-old was filming for ‘Top Gear’ in icy conditions at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey on Tuesday when the accident happened.
“Freddie (Flintoff) was injured in an accident at the Top Gear test track this morning — with crew medics attending the scene immediately,” the BBC said in a statement.
“He has been taken to hospital for further treatment and we will confirm more details in due course.”
According to The Sun, Flintoff’s injuries are not “life-threatening” and he was “driving on the track as normal” and was not going at a high speed.
“All the usual health and safety measures were in place for filming too,” a source was quoted as saying by The Sun.
“Freddie was taken to hospital by air ambulance shortly afterwards. Filming has been postponed for now.”
Flintoff’s son said the 45-year-old was “lucky to be alive” following the crash.
“I’m not too sure what happened but he is lucky to be alive,” his 16-year-old son Corey told Daily Mail. “It was a pretty nasty crash. It is shocking. We are all shocked but just hope he’s going to be OK.”
It is the second crash Flintoff has been involved in while filming the programme which he has presented since 2016.
In 2019, he was heard shouting “I can’t stop” as he shot off the runway into the grass travelling at 124mph. He had lost control of a motorised trike, the Time Bandit, against cohosts Chris Harris and Paddy McGuinness.
Speaking afterwards, he said: “I go to great lengths to make sure I do well in Top Gear drag races but on this occasion I went a few lengths too far! It will look more ridiculous than dangerous when you see it on TV.
The show’s presenters have previously been involved in dangerous crashes while filming.
Richard Hammond, who was a mainstay of the car programme in the 2000s and early 2010s, was nearly killed at Elvington airfield in York in 2006 when a dragster he was driving spun while travelling at 288mph.
Hammond was later in a coma and suffered brain damage. However, he returned to screens and is now part of The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime.
Flintoff, who retired from international cricket in 2009, has played 79 Tests and 141 ODIs.