'I warned them someone would die': Top Gear star Chris

Top Gear presenter Chris Harris today claimed he warned BBC bosses before Freddie Flintoff’s high-speed car crash that someone could be killed on set.

The 49-year-old host, who was on set at the time of the accident which happened during filming for Top Gear, has also said he thought Flintoff had died.

The accident at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey in December 2022 left the 46-year-old former England cricketer with significant facial and rib injuries.

And racing driver Harris told The Joe Rogan Experience podcast: ‘What was never spoken about was that three months before the accident, I’d gone to the BBC and said, unless you change something, someone’s going to die on this show.

‘So I went to them, I went to the BBC, and I told them of my concerns from what I’d seen as the most experienced driver on the show by a mile.

Top Gear presenters Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris, pictured in a publicity photo in 2018

‘I said if we carry on at the very least, we’re going to have a serious injury; at the very worst, we’re going to have a fatality.

Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams is renewed for a third season

‘And I think what happened with Top Gear was I saw repeatedly too many times my two co-hosts who didn’t have the experience I had in cars. This is the critical thing.’

Harris said he was ‘qualified to make those decisions because I’ve done it a long time’, adding: ‘They weren’t. One of them is an actor-comedian. The other guy is a pro cricket player.

‘Brilliant entertainers. They were great hosts. But their roles were to make people laugh. And my role was to tell people what cars were like.’

Harris also claimed there were not enough safety precautions taken for the stunt involving the Morgan three-wheeler vehicle.

England coach Freddie Flintoff at The Oval today on day one of the Third Rothesay Men’s Test

He said: ‘He wasn’t wearing a crash helmet. And if you do that, even at 25, 30mph, the injuries that you sustain are profound. I was there on the day, I was the only presenter with Fred that day.

Andrew Flintoff beaming as he rejoins England coaching setup ahead of final Test of the summer

‘I wasn’t actually right by him, but I was close by. I remember the radio message that I heard. I always used to have a radio in my little room at the test track where I was sitting inside so I could hear what was going on.

‘And I heard someone say this has been a real accident here. The car’s upside down. So I ran to the window, looked out and he wasn’t moving. So I thought he was dead. I assumed he was then he moved.’

Harris said Flintoff’s height, size and strength helped him survive, adding: ‘He’s a great advert for physical strength and conditioning, because if he hadn’t been that strong, he’d have just snapped his neck, he’d be dead.’

Harris added that he broke a finger during an earlier stunt involving go-karts in Thailand with co-presenter Paddy McGuiness, and asked the BBC’s head of health and safety for a meeting, calling for change.

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But he continued: ‘What’s really killed me is that no one’s ever really acknowledged the fact that I called it beforehand. I normally just go with the flow, but I saw this coming.

‘I thought I did the right thing. I went to the BBC and I found out really that no one had taken me very seriously. I did a bit of digging afterwards.

‘The conversation I had with those people was sort of acknowledged. Then they tried to sort of shut me down a bit. And then they didn’t look after me at all. They just sort of left me to rot.’

Ashes winner Flintoff played for Lancashire and featured in 79 Tests, 141 one-day internationals and seven T20s for his country, before retiring in 2010.

The BBC documentary Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour saw the 46-year-old take a group of young people from his home town of Preston on a cricketing tour of India

He started presenting Top Gear in 2019, and has also appeared on Sky’s A League Of Their Own and won the first series of the Australian version of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.

Freddie Flintoff makes VERY cheeky quip during suit fitting in Field Of Dreams

Flintoff received a financial settlement from the BBC following the accident at the Top Gear test track, and the corporation announced it had ‘rested’ Top Gear for the foreseeable future.

Then in September last year, Flintoff joined the coaching staff of England’s cricket team in a temporary, unofficial and unpaid capacity and was pictured for the first time with facial injuries.

He rejoined the team’s backroom staff for their T20 series against the West Indies earlier this year and then took a role as head coach of the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred.

Last month, Flintoff spoke about the crash for the first time, saying he struggled with anxiety, experiencing ‘nightmares and flashbacks’ and was ‘crying every two minutes’ after being seriously hurt.

Freddie Flintoff on a motorised trike while filming a series of BBC programme Top Gear

He also revealed he only left his home for medical appointments in the seven months following the accident.

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His comments came in a BBC documentary, called Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour, which saw the 46-year-old take a group of young people from his home town of Preston on a cricketing tour of India.

In the programme, speaking about the crash for the first time, Flintoff said: ‘I don’t want to sit and feel sorry for myself, I don’t want sympathy, but it’s going from being here for seven months, to going to India.

‘As much as I want to go out and do things, I’ve just not been able to. I’m struggling with my anxiety, I have nightmares, I have flashbacks, it’s been so hard to cope. But I’m thinking if I don’t do something, I’ll never go. I’ve got to get on with it.’

Earlier this week it was reported that Field of Dreams had been renewed for a third season by the BBC, with filming already having begun.

The BBC declined to comment to MailOnline on Harris’s claims today.

The corporation apologised to Flintoff in March last year and launched a health and safety review of Top Gear.

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In November 2023, in a statement on a separate health and safety review, which did not cover Flintoff’s accident, BBC Studios said: ‘The independent Health and Safety production review of Top Gear, which looked at previous seasons, found that while BBC Studios had complied with the required BBC policies and industry best practice in making the show, there were important learnings which would need to be rigorously applied to future Top Gear UK productions.

‘The report includes a number of recommendations to improve approaches to safety as Top Gear is a complex programme-making environment routinely navigating tight filming schedules and ambitious editorial expectations – challenges often experienced by long-running shows with an established on and off screen team.

‘Learnings included a detailed action plan involving changes in the ways of working, such as increased clarity on roles and responsibilities and better communication between teams for any future Top Gear production.’

Listen to Chris Harris on the Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify or Apple Music