Rowan Atkinson cheated death on Thursday evening (4th August 2011) when his MCLaren F1 supercar careered into a tree and then smashed into a lamppost in Cambridgeshire, reports the UK's Daily Mirror. Miraculously, the veteran comedy actor escaped with just a minor shoulder injury and should be discharged from hospital today.
The maroon coloured MCLaren, which he bought in 1997 for a reported $1.2 million, spun off the road while the actor was travelling on the A605 near Haddon around 7.30pm. His agent confirms he will leave hospital "sore" but without serious injury. Atkinson managed to escape from the driver's seat before the vehicle burst into flames at the side of the carriageway. After paramedics arrived on scene, the 'Blackadder' star was taken to Peterborough City Hospital. A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service confirmed, "We attended the scene of a single vehicle Rta earlier this evening and took a man with minor injuries to hospital" One onlooker told the UK's Daily Mirror, "Rowan is lucky to be alive".
Atkinson, who reportedly bought the supercar to celebrate the success of his Mr Bean movie, crashed the vehicle back in 1999 in a collision with the rear of a Rover Metro in Lancashire.