THE BBC is being investigated over the high-speed crash that left Richard Hammond, the Top Gear presenter, critically ill with a serious brain injury.

The police and the Health and Safety Executive are seeking to establish whether BBC producers should have allowed Hammond to take the wheel of the 300mph, jetpowered dragster. Accident investigators want to know what training he received and how much planning went into his unofficial attempt to break the British land-speed record on Wednesday.

The investigations come amid reports that crew members were concerned about safety on Top Gear. If the BBC is found to have failed in its duty of care to Hammond, 36, it would be liable to face criminal charges and potentially an unlimited fine.

BBC governors were briefed on the 280mph (450kmh) accident yesterday by Mark Thompson, its Director-General. The corporation has opened an internal inquiry into the crash.

Family and friends of Hammond, including his Top Gear co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May, spent yesterday at his bedside at Leeds General Infirmary. The married father of two, who was flown to the hospital by air ambulance after the crash at Elvington, a North Yorkshire airfield, was in a serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit.

Doctors said that he had suffered “a significant brain injury” that was giving cause for concern. But they were “reasonably optimistic that he will make a good recovery”.

Hammond was said to have been in an euphoric state immediately before his final run of the day in Vampire. The car already holds the British speed record of 300.3 mph, set six years ago at the same airfield.

Last night Clarkson disclosed that he had made Hammond smile by calling him “a crap driver”. He told The Sun: “He was lying peacefully with a black eye but didn’t react so I tried something else. “I said, ‘The reason you’re here is because you’re a crap driver’. He then smiled at me. It was an amazing moment, very moving.”

Clarkson, who talked to Hammond for an hour, said that his co-host had been a “very lucky boy”.

Hammond’s smile had “convinced me he will live”, he said.

The presenter had completed several runs along a 1.8-mile stretch of the runway in the vehicle, which can accelerate from 0mph to 272mph in six seconds. He had covered half a mile of his final run and had just switched on the after- burner to increase the car’s power when — at an estimated speed of 280mph — it suddenly veered off course and careered off the runway.

The car sped into a grass strip where it flipped over and became embedded upside down in the ground, 200 yards from the runway. Parts of the vehicle’s bodywork, including the nose cone, were ripped off, leaving debris strewn across the airfield and Hammond — dressed in fireproof overalls, a balaclava and helmet — trapped inside.

Earlier in the day Hammond had been complaining about how tightly he was strapped into the car by its 3in-wide seat belts.

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