News Centre
Damaged tyre likely cause of Hammond crash
14 September 2007
Richard Hammond’s high speed crash which left him in a coma last year was likely caused by a nail in the tyre, according to a new BBC report released today. The report concluded that an “inability to spot damage to the tyre” was the underlying cause of the accident. Further, it was revealed that a check of the tyres between practices might have spotted the danger earlier. The diminutive star of Top Gear was driving at speeds of nearly 300mph when the front offside tyre suffered a “catastrophic disintegration”. The Top Gear team were also criticised for not having any “assurance system” to ensure safety checks had been carried out to the car, a Rolls Royce-engined Vampire drag racer. The 88-page report said Primetime Landspeed Engineering (PLE), the company who supplied the car, had sole responsibility for the car’s safety. The report said: “The indirect cause was the inability to spot the damage to the tyre, possibly due to either the lack of an adequate checking procedure or inadequate implementation of the procedure by PLE as the ‘experts’ with sole responsibility for the safety of the car; and to a much lesser extent Top Gear not having an assurance system to ensure that the safety checks were being performed on the day”. “The Top Gear team…did not have anyone with sufficient knowledge to assess the adequacy of the checks made by PLE on the day of the shoot”. However, the show’s production team were praised for areas of good practice, including a decision to drop the original idea of attempting a land speed record because it put the presenter at greater risk. Auto Trader links Top Gear's Hammond in new car smash Richard Hammond races Bugatti Veyron Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson's Ford for sale Top Gear stars' cars | ||
Page 1
