Ex-Top Gear star Richard Hammond says sorry to wife after horror crash

SKY NEWS

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TV presenter Richard Hammond has apologised to his wife and daughters after he crashed a super car and ended up seconds from being "incinerated".

The producer of his show The Grand Tour said the star was lucky to be alive after his vehicle flipped and burst into flames in the Swiss mountains.

It is the second serious smash that Hammond has been involved in, with the first, in 2006, leaving him in a coma for two weeks.

Hammond appeared in a short clip on his website saying: "Yes, it's true, I binned it. Net result being I'm here in a hospital in Switzerland.

"I'd like to thank all the medical professionals that got me here from the crash site and have dealt with me since.

"I'd like to thank James May who smuggled a bottle of gin in for me last night.

"And, most importantly, sorry to my wife Mindy and my daughters... I'm sorry for being such a colossal... More news later."

The 47-year-old suffered a fractured knee while racing an electric super car, but was not seriously injured.

He also showed he had not lost his sense of humour as he displayed a picture of his knee which he said would look like a Swiss Army Knife by the time surgeons had finished with it.

Hammond was racing a Rimac Concept One car, built in Croatia, during the Hemburg Hill Climb.

It was filmed as part of the second series of The Grand Tour, the Amazon Prime programme that Hammond, May and Jeremy Clarkson began after leaving the BBC's Top Gear in 2015.

According to the car manufacturer's website, the Concept One can reach a maximum speed of 220mph thanks to its 1,224 horsepower motor.

Clarkson and May arrived on the scene shortly after his car left the road.

Andy Wilman, The Grand Tour's producer, told the Sunday Mirror: "Jeremy and James both raced down to the scene of the crash as soon as it happened.

"When they saw the wreckage on fire they thought Richard was dead. It was really bad.

"They were staggered he had got out of it alive, because there was just nothing left."

Clarkson described it as the "biggest" and "most frightening" crash he had ever seen, adding in a Twitter post: "Thankfully, Richard seems to be mostly OK."

In 2006, Hammond suffered brain injuries after crashing a jet-propelled car while travelling at close to 300mph.

(SKY NEWS)