Rowan Atkinson, the comedian and petrolhead, was released from hospital on Friday after surviving an accident in one of the world’s fastest road vehicles with only a bruised shoulder, some very costly coach repair, and a shattered ego.

The accident happened on the A605 in Haddon, Cambridgeshire.

According to accounts, the 56-year-old Blackadder and Mr Bean actor was driving his McLaren F1 supercar when it whirled around multiple times, collided with a tree and a light, and caught fire.

When the flames in the engine bay engulfed him, he had managed to flee the wreckage.

After the incident on Thursday evening, Atkinson was brought to the hospital with a shattered shoulder.

“Crews brought the fire under control by 8.13pm,” a Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said. “They made the vehicle safe and used one hose reel to put out the fire.”

“There was one casualty but he was not trapped.”

He was transported away in a private ambulance after leaving Peterborough City Hospital in a wheelchair through the back entrance, escorted by security personnel who sought to prevent waiting cameras.

Atkinson, who is known to be a car fanatic, recently won Top Gear’s Star in a Reasonably Priced Car competition. He informed host Jeremy Clarkson that he enjoyed racing and that he was now driving a 1964 Ford Falcon.

But, he said, his racing expertise did nothing to calm his anxiety before taking on the challenge.

The collision on the A605 near Haddon, Cambridgeshire, is the comedian’s second in the F1, which he purchased in 1997 after the success of his Mr Bean film.

He crashed the car into the rear of a Rover Metro in Lancashire in 1999, but the damage this time is likely to be far worse. The sports vehicle, which was the fastest road car in existence when it was introduced in 1992, sustained substantial rear damage to its carbon fiber exterior, according to photos taken before it was placed into a rescue truck.

Please Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Here for Royal News updates