Top Gear presenter’s morbid warning before Flintoff’s near-death crash

A Top Gear presenter has broken his silence in the wake of a cricketer’s near-death crash, detailing the warning he gave to the BBC.

Top Gear Chris Harris has spoken for the first time in the wake of Freddie Flintoff’s near-death crash.

Freddie was in a three-wheel roadster as he filmed an episode of the BBC motoring show when he crashed and was ultimately airlifted to hospital.

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As a result the show was cancelled and Flintoff received £9m (AU$17.5m) in compensation, but now Harris has broken his silence and revealed the chilling warning he gave to those at the broadcaster.

In an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Harris claimed he had spoken to BBC bosses regarding safety failings on the show.

He also stated that production on the day of the near fatal incident was “rushed” and the former England cricketer wasn’t wearing a helmet.

“He wasn’t wearing a crash helmet. 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 remember the radio message that I heard.

“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.”

Freddie Flintoff's injuries after the crash. Picture: BBC1

Flintoff seen in September last year. (Photo by Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)

Harris added: “So that day was very difficult, made even more difficult by the fact that the build-up to that particular shoot, 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 is complicated. It doesn’t mean it’s inherently dangerous.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“But 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’

“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.’”

Chris Harris says he gave the BBC a morbid warning ahead of Flintoff’s crash. Credit: JRE

Flintoff showed off the full extent of the facial injuries he suffered in his new BBC1 series, Field of Dreams on Tour.

He revealed he suffered from nightmares, flashbacks and ‘shouldn’t have survived’ the crash, which saw him airlifted to hospital from the Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey.

The father-of-four 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.”