Rowan Atkinson escapes with a broken shoulder as 240mph supercar smashes into tree and bursts into flames

Last updated at 10:01 PM on 5th August 2011

AS Mr Bean, he always left chaos in his wake.

Now Rowan Atkinson has been involved in a real-life disaster, crashing his 240mph supercar as he drove home from work on a spoof spy movie.

The comedy star lost control of his McLaren F1, careering across the carriageway and into a tree and a road sign before the £635,000 sports car burst into flames.

Scroll down for video of Rowan Atkinson on Top Gear...

Carted away: The supercar is taken from the crash site today. The Blackadder star crashed the McLaren once before, in 1999, when he was in collision with a Rover Metro in Lancashire

Serious repair: The supercar, pictured being taken from the crash site, has suffered considerable damage to the rear carbon fibre bodywork

Rescue: Emergency services rushed to the scene to check on Atkinson who managed to free himself from the wreck. The fire service confirmed that the car was in flames after it left the road

He had managed to escape from the wreckage when the flames took hold in the engine bay.
Atkinson was taken to hospital with a fractured shoulder after the incident on Thursday evening.

He was discharged yesterday but left Peterborough City Hospital in a wheelchair and without comment. Onlookers said he was manoeuvred into the back of a Harley Street private ambulance and driven away.

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The accident comes a month after the renowned ‘petrol head’ set the fastest time on a lap of the Top Gear track during the BBC motoring show’s ‘star in a reasonably priced car’ segment.

The incident on the A605 at Haddon in Cambridgeshire is the second time the comedian has crashed the F1, which he bought in 1997 following the success of his Mr Bean film.

In 1999 he ploughed the vehicle into the back of a Rover Metro in Lancashire, but the damage this time is likely to be rather more substantial. Pictures of the car taken before it was loaded on to a recovery truck show the sports car – the fastest road car in production when it was launched in 1992 – suffered extensive rear damage to its carbon fibre bodywork.

Atkinson’s agent Peter Bennett-Jones said his client had been driving to his Northamptonshire home after editing his latest film Johnny English Reborn, a sequel to the 2003 movie Johnny English, about a clumsy English spy which parodies the James Bond genre.

Mr Bennett-Jones said: ‘He is shaken but not stirred.

‘I think he was in pain and had some painkillers and stayed in hospital because obviously he didn’t have a car to get home. It is nothing more serious than that. He will be very rattled by the whole thing and I think he’ll want to keep as low profile as possible.’

Cambridgeshire police said no one else was involved in the crash, which forced the road to be closed for an hour while wreckage was cleared.

Atkinson was given a routine breath test at the scene which proved negative and no charges are likely to follow.

He once said he ‘derives pleasure from anything four-wheeled, from a go-kart to a Bentley’, and has owned a £125,000 Aston Martin Virage and a vintage Rolls-Royce.

Only 106 McLaren F1s were produced, costing £635,000 when new and going from 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds.

A spokesman for McLaren said the car would be taken to its headquarters in Woking, Surrey, to assess the damage.

Comedy gold: Rowan Atkinson in his role as the hapless Mr Bean - who would have certainly being flustered by today's events

Smash: Rowan Atkinson's £650,000 McLaren F1 spun several times, smashed into a tree and ploughed into a road sign before catching fire on the opposite side of the carriageway

Smash: Rowan Atkinson's £650,000 McLaren F1, seen in the aftermath of the crash. The car spun several times, smashed into a tree and ploughed into a road sign before catching fire on the opposite side of the carriageway