JET - HAMMOND CRASH FOOTAGE AIRED

HAMMOND CRASH FOOTAGE AIRED

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond's high-speed crash is set to be broadcast later this evening on national television.

In the first edition of the programme since Hammond's crash, footage of the jet-powered dragster he was driving veering off the track and flipping over will be shown.

Images of the incident already published in Top Gear magazine show a blown tyre as the cause of the nearly fatal accident, which occurred at 288mph.

Doctors indicated at the time that Hammond had suffered a "significant brain injury" but were impressed by the rapidity of his recovery. He has said that he could not remember what happened in the two weeks after the crash.

The latest series of Top Gear had been postponed from its original scheduled date of October 8th last year.

Hammond's driving licence – a fairly essential part of the Top Gear job description – had to be won back after a series of gruelling mental tests, the 37-year-old told the Radio Times magazine.

"They were worried about flashbacks. I was like 'hang on, if I was strapped into a jet car on a runway… maybe'."