A racing driver who crashed with Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff said he suffered back injuries and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when the car he was a passenger in rolled over while filming Top Gear in 2022.

Paul Rees made the claim in a newly-released document setting out his case against BBC Studios, who he is suing for damages in excess of £100,000.

BBC Studios in its legal response said Rees did not complain of any injuries at the time or after the crash. The company denied it was negligent “as alleged or at all” and said Rees’ “faulty instructions” led to the accident.

Flintoff suffered serious facial and rib injuries when the open-topped three-wheeled Morgan Super 3 he was driving rolled over. Rees was offering expert driving advice from the passenger seat.

The incident occurred when Rees was employed, as part of the BBC’s Top Gear programme to film a “power test” of the Morgan Super 3 versus the Toyota GR86 at the Dunsfold Airfield in Surrey between 13th and 15th December 2022.

Rees is a racing driver and has experience as a stunt driver for TV shows, but the particulars of his claim said he had never driven a Morgan Super 3 before.

The incident that injured Rees and Flintoff involved an attempt to drift the three-wheeled car around the airfield’s “Chicago” bend, the document states.

“At no time no time did the Defendant [BBC Studios] indicate that such manoeuvres would be dangerous. Indeed, a slide or a skid was intended, forming part of the script written by the Defendant,” the particulars of the claim said.

“About 50 minutes after starting driving, the employee entered the “Chicago” corner and accelerated whilst turning the steering wheel on leaving it. As he did so, the vehicle turned upside down, causing injury to both the Claimant [Rees] and the employee [Flintoff]”, it adds.

Rees’s legal case argues that BBC Studios failed to inform the driver and Flintoff not to attempt to drift the car, or the risk of rolling the vehicle, as well as the “soft signs” that this might happen in three-wheeled cars.

In a statement released before Rees’s particulars of claim was made public, 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.”

In the court documents, Rees has set out the injuries he allegedly suffered as a result of the crash.

Rees said that he “sustained injury to his lumbar spine in the form of an acute exacerbation of lower back pain in an area of pre-existing weakness”.

His lawsuit alleged that this impacted upon a ski holiday, as well as his exercise regime as “attempts at strenuous athletic activity would cause significant exacerbations of pain and stiffness”.

It is also alleged that Rees suffered psychiatric injury “diagnosed… as a depressive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder”.

BBC Studios in its legal response said Rees did not complain of any injuries at the time or after the crash. The company denied it was negligent “as alleged or at all” and said Rees’ “faulty instructions” led to the accident.

There were microphones in the car, and BBC Studios said Flintoff expressed concern at one point when the car’s front wheel lifted as he took a corner, but was reassured by Rees that it could not roll over.

Approaching the same corner again, Rees told Flintoff to “now turn right… now full power, full power”, BBC Studios’ defence filings said.

The document claimed that “a front wheel lifted and because on the claimant’s instruction the presenter continued to apply power the Morgan turned over”.

Cricketer-turned-TV personality Flintoff was one of three co-hosts of the long-running BBC motoring show at the time of the crash.

He has described being dragged face-down underneath the car for about 50 metres. “I thought I was dead,” he told a Disney+ documentary last year.

He has also said he did not leave his house for six months after the crash, except for medical appointments. He reached a compensation settlement with the BBC in 2023.

The BBC then “rested” Top Gear. According to reports, the broadcaster has been exploring a return of the show.

A spokesperson for Morgan, which is not a defendant, said the case was a matter for the BBC and declined to comment further.

BBC News has contacted Paul Rees for comment.