car crashes

Freddie Flintoff was injured in the crash which happened at Dunsfold Aerodrome near Cranleigh in Surrey, where the former cricketer had been filming for BBC One’s Top Gear

Freddie Flintoff has told how his two-year-old son wouldn’t go near him after his horror Top Gear crash.

The former professional cricketer, 47, said he became “a snappy mess” following the smash which happened during filming for the BBC One programme at Dunsfold Aerodrome near Cranleigh, Surrey. The three-wheeled Morgan supercar overturned on the track and Freddie, who played cricket for England for 11 years, dragged his face along the ground, cutting open the side of his nose, cheek and lips, and shattering his jawbone and teeth.

But he has spoken this week of how traumatic the mental injuries were, revealing for the first time how the ordeal impacted his children. Freddie, who had PTSD following the accident, said: “(After the crash) I would get snappy and angry.

“The kids were incredible… It was the younger one, Preston, because he would have been about two, two and a half, at the time and he wouldn’t come near me to begin with because I was a mess.”

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Top Gear was shelved following the crash, and Freddie reportedly received £9m in compensation from BBC Studios, who make the show. Yet, the star has spoken since at how the experience changed his life, including how he wouldn’t leave his home – except for medical appointments – for six to eight months in the wake of it.

But the former fast bowler, a Lancashire Cricket Club legend, has now said he is on the road to recovery, to a great extent thanks to wife Rachael Wools, whom he wed in March 2005.

Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Freddie said: “I have flashbacks and nightmares, but I’ve probably got more of an acceptance of them now.

“I suppose that the biggest thing it did do, was brought me back to cricket. Family and friends and cricket have been things that now, have probably helped me more than anything. It’s all good now. But Rachael was strong. I suppose she had to be for both of us.”

Freddie, originally from Preston, Lancashire, has returned to TV work in recent months too. A second series of Freddie’s Field of Dreams – in which he creates a brand-new cricket team with a group of promising teens and inspires a fresh generation – aired on the BBC in 2024. The BBC has given the green light for a third series, it is understood.

And the dad was chosen to front the revival of game show Bullseye, which returned as a trial on Christmas Day last year on ITV. It became so popular ITV commissioned Bullseye for a full series, which is set to broadcast before the year is out.

Watch Freddie’s full interview on Thursday on Piers Morgan Uncensored on YouTube.

Ian Dury’s son admitted in an interview that he had lost his driving licence after being reported to the authorities by BBC presenter Jeremy Vine

Cycling champion and BBC star Jeremy Vine caused the son of a British punk rock legend to lose his driving licence after snapping him engaging in a bad habit while behind the wheel, it has emerged.

The son of Ian Dury, Baxter, revealed the embarrassing information while being interviewed on BBC 6 Music by Huw Stephens. He explained that he had been looking at his phone in a traffic jam when Jeremy Vine cycled past and caught him red-handed.

Ian Dury was an innovator in the late 70s and early 80s’ burgeoning punk rock and new wave genres, frequently troubling government censors with countercultural and suggestive imagery, such as in his UK Number One chart topper ‘Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick.’

Baxter Dury has followed in his father’s footsteps. He was driving to his home in West London from producer Paul Epworth’s studio, where they had been working on his latest album, Albarone, when the BBC star recorded him.

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Dury, 53, told Huw Stephens: “Do you know what? This is a tragic story, but I drove there for the first half (of making the record) and then lost my license.”

However, Baxter did not blame Jeremy Vine for reporting him, telling the BBC that he probably deserved it.

Baxter went on to explain: “I got caught in a traffic jam, and Jeremy Vine took a film of me looking at Instagram, which he deserves to, I’m not arguing about (it). “

Realising that Vine could catch him once again, he added: “Shouldn’t probably say that publicly, he’s probably in the other room, isn’t he?”

When the BBC Radio 2 presenter heard that he’d caught Ian Dury’s son red-handed, he shared his love of his father’s work, but did not apologise. He told the Mail: ‘This is very unfortunate. I would like Baxter to know that I love his dad’s music.

‘I’m afraid mobile phone use in cars in London, particularly the posher parts, is an absolute curse. So I am quite tunnel-visioned about it.

‘We have 1700 road deaths a year. Sorry to be serious about it. Best wishes to Baxter.’

Jeremy Vine has recorded countless numbers of drivers flouting road rules over the years, often posting examples on social media to raise awareness of what cyclists face every day. However, last month, he made the surprising decision to stop posting videos after receiving abuse.

The TV presenter has racked up hundreds of millions of views, without making a penny, across various social media platforms, which has also brought with it huge waves of online hate.

He said on X: “I’m stopping my cycling videos. The trolling just got too bad. They have had well over 100 million views but in the end the anger they generate has genuinely upset me.”

Vine also shared the serious death threats made against him for sharing videos of drivers breaking the rules, with online trolls branding him “England’s biggest ***hole” and calling for the Channel 5 debate host to be crushed by a lorry.

After making the decision to quit, the TV star said he would miss the conversations sparked by the videos, which could be about relatively small infractions.

“Some of the biggest videos were actually about the smallest incidents, like someone turning left in front of me,” he said.

“People are happy to discuss it and I actually think that we’d all be safer if we all understood each other. People are going to drive 4x4s in Kensington and whatnot but they need to have a bit of care for me on a bicycle.

“You might be in total control when you pass close by but the person on a bicycle doesn’t know that. I just hope I was part of a dialogue about it.”