Hammond still hobbling on a stick 18 months after high-speed crash
RICHARD Hammond leans on a walking stick during a Christmas shopping trip in London with wife Mindy, 18 months after his knee was shattered in a horrific crash.
The Grand Tour co-host was airlifted to hospital in June last year after the £2million electric supercar he was driving overturned and burst into flames.
He had been taking part in the Hemburg Hill Climb race in a car with a top speed of 220mph.
Speaking after the accident, Hammond, 48, said: “I remember all of it, right from when maybe I was going too fast and went over the edge.
“Then sky, ground, sky, ground, like being in a tumble dryer full of bricks. I thought, ‘Oh God, I’m going to die. This is it. I’ve had it.’”
He joked that doctors were going to give him a “Swiss Army knee” to repair his fractured limb.
No stranger to high-speed smashes, Hammond was also left in a coma for two weeks in 2006 after crashing a jet-propelled car while travelling at almost 300mph.
The Top Gear star, who had been attempting to break the British land speed record at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire, suffered serious brain injuries and struggled with depression and paranoia in the months following the accident. The Grand Tour star in hospital showing a picture of his knee following surgery to rebuild it, after he crashed a powerful car, left, which rolled and burst into flames