TOP Gear host Chris Harris has slammed the BBC over Freddie Flintoff’s life-threatening horror crash in a scathing new interview.
The TV star, 49, revealed he warned bosses months before the accident that “someone’s going to die” if safety issues on the motoring programme weren’t addressed.
Former England cricketer Flintoff, 46, suffered life-changing injuries in December 2022 when the three-wheeled car he was driving flipped over at high speed.
The sportsman wasn’t wearing a helmet and suffered facial scarring and broken ribs. He became a recluse as he recovered from the ordeal and remains traumatised, regularly suffering from flashbacks.
The crash looked so bad that Harris, who was on site that day, thought his friend and co-star had died.
Speaking to podcast superstar Joe Rogan, he said: “What was never spoken about was that three months before the accident, I’d gone to the BBC and said, unless you change something, someone’s going to die on this show so I went to them I went to the BBC and I told them of my concerns from what I’d seen as the most experienced driver on the show by a mile.
“I said if we carry on at the very least we’re gonna have a serious injury at the very worst we’re gonna have fatality. And I think what happened with Top Gear was I saw repeatedly too many times my two co-hosts who didn’t have the experience I had in cars. This is the critical thing.
“I’m qualified to make those decisions because I’ve done it a long time. They weren’t. One of them is an actor-comedian. The other guy is a pro cricket player. Brilliant entertainers. They were great hosts. But their roles were to make people laugh. And my role was to tell people what cars were like.”
Taking aim at the Beeb and Top Gear bosses, Harris said he believes the briefing for the three wheeler stunt was insufficient.
“He wasn’t wearing a crash helmet,” he said. “And if you do that, even at 25, 30 miles an hour, the injuries that you sustain are profound. 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 where I was sitting inside so I could hear what was going on.
“And I heard someone say this has been a real accident here. The car’s upside down. So I ran to the window, looked out and he wasn’t moving. So I thought he was dead. I assumed he was then he moved.
“He’s physical specimen, Fred, he’s a big guy, six foot five, six foot six, strong. And if he wasn’t so strong, he wouldn’t have survived. He’s a great advert for physical strength and conditioning, because if he hadn’t been that strong, he’d have just snapped his neck, he’d be dead.”
Alarm bells started to ring when the danger surrounding the type of car being used was overlooked by show chiefs, according to Harris.
He said: “I knew that we were – at the last minute -that we were using a Morgan three-wheeler. It’s a very, difficult car, you know.
“The name tells you its physics are complicated. It doesn’t mean it’s inherently dangerous. You just drive it according to what it is. You have to be aware of its limitations. And I think that really was difficult. And you need experience.
“There were two people that had driven a Morgan three-wheeler before, present that day, me and someone else, a pro driver.
“And we were sitting inside at that time. No one had asked us anything about the car. They’d just gone on and shot it without us.”
In a further damning assessment, Harris said the show expected too much from Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness‘s driving ability considering they weren’t from motoring backgrounds like him.
He said: “And I think if I’m looking in the mirror, I find it very difficult, even now, that Andrew, who I loved to bits, a lovely man, he was a pro cricket player. He wasn’t an automotive guy.
“And 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 that it went wrong. I find that very difficult to live with. And I feel partly responsible because I didn’t get the chance to talk to him.”
There had been warning signs something catastrophic could happen ahead of Freddie’s near fatal accident.
Harris was shocked by the blasé approach to stunts and felt it was only a matter of time before someone was seriously hurt.
“Myself and Paddy were in Thailand,” he explained. “And we did a go-kart race down a hill in just compacted mud wooden go-karts with no engines. And I just looked at them, and I said, it’s not a question of whether we get injured. It’s how injured we get.
“I said to have an ambulance at the bottom, because something’s going to go wrong. Sure enough, I broke something in my hand, and broke a finger or what have you. I always said I don’t mind breaking my hand if we get a BAFTA for it or an award but this was just a sh** skit. It went on too much.”
That incident prompted him to seek out the BBC’s head of health and safety for a meeting, but it resulted in zero change.
He continued: “And what’s really killed me is that no one’s ever really acknowledged the fact that I called it beforehand.”
The inaction is something that Harris struggles with even now.
“I normally just go with the flow, but I saw this coming,” he said. “I thought I did the right thing. I went to the BBC and I found out really that no one had taken me very seriously. I did a bit of digging afterwards.
“The conversation I had with those people was sort of acknowledged. Then they tried to sort of shut me down a bit. And then they didn’t look after me at all. They just sort of left me to rot.
“And even now, I’m totally perplexed by the whole thing. To actually say to an organization, this is going to go wrong, and then be there the day that it goes wrong is a position I never expected to be in, and I never want to be in again. It’s strange and pretty heartbreaking in many ways. I love that show.
“They just sort of left me to sweat really. I just didn’t really, I just sat in my, where I live and drank whiskey. I didn’t have much contact with them at all. Everything went quiet. They had two inquiries into the accident commissioned, neither of which I had access to. I pushed very hard to have access to the second one and saw some of it.
“A bit of me thought as the experienced driver, do the members of the public think that I didn’t do enough to protect Andrew? And Paddy as well.
“They both experienced other incidents on that show that I think were unacceptable. And that’s coming as someone who loves a bit of risk.”
The show ultimately paid the price for the accident, with it being pulled from air.
Flintoff also received a £9million compensation settlement.
He remains on good terms with the BBC itself, and the second series of his cricket docuseries Field of Dreams recently aired to rave reviews.
However, the money has done little to help with the trauma he still experiences.
The father-of-four recently said: “I am struggling already and I need help. I really am.
“I’m not the best at asking for it.
“I need to stop crying every two minutes.
“I genuinely should not be here after what happened. It’s going to be a long road back and I’ve only just started.
“I’ve got to look at the positives. I’ve got another chance, and I’m going to go at it. I’m seeing that as how it is – a second go.”
