Former Top Gear presenter Chris Harris has revealed he was at the location of Andrew Flintoff's horror crash in 2022 - and was quickly on the scene after it.
Flintoff suffered serious facial injuries and a broken rib in the crash, which occurred at the Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey.
The former Lancashire and England all-rounder was driving a Morgan 3 Wheeler when the car flipped, according to reports.
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He was airlifted to hospital, and decided to spend over a year out of the public eye while he recovered from his injuries.
BBC Studios confirmed it had reached 'an agreement' with Flintoff, reportedly a financial settlement of around £9 million, over the crash.
Details surrounding the crash, barring those mentioned above, have been relatively scarce, with Harris himself only stating that it was a 'serious incident' in a November 2023 interview with the BBC.
But now, the journalist and racing driver has appeared on the latest episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience', in which he opened up about the day of the crash in more detail.
For the first time, Harris revealed that he was actually at the site of Flintoff's accident in Surrey - and feared that he was 'dead' after seeing him inside the car shortly afterwards.
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He explained: "I was there on the day, I was the only presenter with Fred that day.
"I wasn't actually right by him, but I was close by.
"I remember the radio message that I heard - I always used to have a radio in my little room at the test track inside, so I could hear what was going on - I could hear someone say, 'There's been a real accident here. The car's upside down.'
"So I ran to the window, looked down, and he wasn't moving. I thought he was dead. I assumed he was. And then he moved.
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"If he wasn't so strong, he wouldn't have survived. He's a great advert for physical strength and conditioning. I couldn't believe he survived.
"That moment of realisation that he'd survived has kind of defined my thoughts on the subject since.
"Because I believe that anything after that is a bit of a bonus, you know. The fact he survived it is remarkable, and it's given him and his family a chance to move on, under very difficult circumstances."
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Harris then opened up on the processes involved in preparing for the shoot - and claimed that the presenting pair were only told 'at the last minute' about the specific car that Flintoff would be driving.
He explained: "It's a difficult car. The name tells you its physics are complicated.
"That doesn't mean it's inherently dangerous. You just drive it according to what it is. You have to be aware of its limitations.
"You need experience. There were two people who had driven a Morgan 3 Wheeler that day - me and a pro driver.
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"We were sitting inside at the time. No-one had asked us anything about the car - they'd just gone and shot it without us.
"Andrew, before a shoot, would always come up to me and say, 'Tell me how it is. I've got all the advice. Give me the last bit of advice, and what I should do, what I should expect'.
"Because of the call times that day, that was the first time we'd never had the chance to talk about how he might approach a difficult vehicle. And that was the one day it went wrong. I find that very difficult to live with.
"I feel partly responsible, because I didn't get the chance to talk to him. But my situation is nothing compared to his."
BBC Studios declined to comment on Harris's claims when approached by SPORTbible, but did refer back to their November 2023 statement on the Independent Health and Safety Review - which did not cover Flintoff's accident - conducted into Top Gear.
The statement reads as follows: “The independent Health and Safety production review of Top Gear, which looked at previous seasons, found that while BBC Studios had complied with the required BBC policies and industry best practice in making the show, there were important learnings which would need to be rigorously applied to future Top Gear UK productions.
“The report included a number of recommendations to improve approaches to safety as Top Gear is a complex programme-making environment routinely navigating tight filming schedules and ambitious editorial expectations – challenges often experienced by long-running shows with an established on and off-screen team.
"Learnings included a detailed action plan involving changes in the ways of working, such as increased clarity on roles and responsibilities and better communication between teams for any future Top Gear production.”
Topics: Cricket, Motorsport
Ryan Smart