Top Gear host Hammond takes steps towards recovery

MEDICAL staff yesterday said Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond’s recovery was continuing as he recuperated on a general ward after being transferred from a high-dependency unit yesterday.

“He is continuing to make good progress. He’s doing well,” a spokesman for Leeds General Infirmary said.

On Saturday, Hammond was well enough to share a joke with his wife Mindy and is also said to have seen his daughters Willow and Isabella for the first time since the crash.

Hammond’s Top Gear co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson said his injured colleague had already taken his first steps, having walked to the bathroom shortly after waking on Thursday, some 30 hours after the 300mph crash that put him in hospital.

Mindy said: “The family and I are overwhelmed by the flowers and messages of support we have received from well-wishers.

“However, Richard is now beginning to worry that Jeremy and James (his co-presenters) will start taking the mickey, so it would be great if, instead of flowers, people could make a donation to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.”

This message appears to have had a hand in boosting the appeal, which is online at www.justgiving.com/phrichardhammond, and one person has already left a single donation of £50,000 on the website.

Mr Hammond, 36, was flown by the YAA’s current helicopter to Leeds General Infirmary in a matter of minutes after the jet-powered dragster he was driving crashed on an airfield near York.