Sugar Downplays Reports He "Cheated Death"

The Apprentice star played down reports he could have been seriously injured when his light plane crashed at an airfield on Saturday (05Jul08).

His four-seat Cirrus SR20 hit a rut as it overshot the runway and damaged the propeller at Barton Aerodrome near Manchester.

But the wealthy mogul denies the incident put him in danger.

He says, "We landed and ran over the end of the slippery runway by about 15 feet into some taller grass.

"In doing so, the propeller of the plane picked up some minor damage and, according to the rules, this means the plane can't fly unless checked out by a qualified engineer, of which there were none available.

"As far as 'life-threatening' is concerned, to put things in perspective, my friend and I had as much chance of dying from the incident as we did in dying from food poisoning from the tuna sandwich that a very nice lady made us in the clubhouse whilst we waited for a mate to pick us up and take us home."