23/10/2006

'Top Gear' presenter describes crash

'Top Gear' presenter Richard Hammond has given his first interview since the high-speed jet-powered car crash, which almost killed him.

Speaking to the 'Daily Mirror', the 36-year-old said: "It was 50/50 what was going to happen. I may have been dead, I may not have woken up."

He told the newspaper: "Doctors use a points system. Fifteen is normal, three is a flatline. I was a three. I was that close to being dead."

Hammond suffered a significant brain injury when he crashed the jet-powered Vampire dragster at 288mph while filming for 'Top Gear' at Elvington airfield in York on September 20.

He was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary, where, Hammond told the 'Daily Mirror', surgeons considered drilling a "bore hole" into his head in order to drain the blood from his brain to relieve the swelling. However, in the end, the operation was not deemed necessary.

However, Hammond said that the brain injury caused him to be reduced to a child-like state and said that the feeling was "utterly terrifying". He said that his mind felt like "an office that had been utterly ransacked".

The presenter said that he became obsessed with playing with Lego and the card game Top Trumps, which he said helped him to recover.

Hammond said that he had "absolutely no idea" what caused the crash.

The BBC, the police and the Health and Safety Executive are currently investigating it.

(KMcA/EF)




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