Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff's passenger sues BBC for £150k over Top Gear crash
In 2023, "Freddie" Flintoff reached a £9m settlement with the BBC 10 months after his horror crash
A racing driver who was in the car with Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff when he crashed while filming Top Gear in 2022 is suing BBC Studios.
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Paul Rees, who was in the passenger seat giving expert driving advice, is seeking up to £150,000 for personal injury, according to court documents.
It had not previously been publicly known that anyone else was inside the open-topped three-wheeled Morgan Super 3 when it overturned at the Top Gear test track.
Flintoff suffered serious facial and rib injuries in the crash. BBC Studios, in its legal defence, said Rees did not complain of any injuries either at the time or afterwards.
The company denied it had been negligent “as alleged or at all” and claimed Rees’s “faulty instructions” caused the accident.
BBC News said it had seen Rees’s claim form, filed in December 2025, but not the full claim. Rees, 41, from Oxfordshire, and his lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2023, Flintoff reached a £9m settlement with the BBC 10 months after his horror crash.
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The available court documents give fresh details about the crash, which happened at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey on 13 December 2022.
According to BBC Studios’ defence, microphones inside the car captured Flintoff expressing concern at one stage when the vehicle’s front wheel lifted as he took a corner.
The broadcaster said Rees then reassured him the car could not roll over.
Approaching the same corner again, BBC Studios said Rees told Flintoff: “now turn right... now full power, full power”.
The defence filing added: “a front wheel lifted and because on the claimant's instruction the presenter continued to apply power the Morgan turned over”.
The court documents also state: “At no time in the period after the accident did the claimant suggest that he had suffered any injury in the accident.”
In a statement, BBC Studios said: “We dispute this claim and are defending it. As it's now before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Flintoff was one of the three presenters of the long-running BBC motoring show at the time of the crash.
According to reports, the BBC has since explored bringing Top Gear back in some form.