A TV presenter who was hurt while playing the role of a human crash test dummy has been awarded £1.6m in damages after a High Court battle with the BBC.
Jeremy Stansfield, 50, said he suffered spine and brain injuries while filming a 2013 episode of science show Bang Goes The Theory, resulting in more than £3m of lost future earnings.
Mrs Justice Yip ruled the effect of the injuries was "to derail the claimant's successful career in television".
The BBC disputed Mr Stansfield's claim.
The injuries happened when Mr Stansfield, who was 42 at the time, filmed a Bang Goes The Theory feature about the relative safety of forward and rear-facing child car seats.
The episode saw him "strapped into a rig like a go-cart which was propelled along a track into a post".
In the segment, Mr Stansfield explained he had calculated the experiment to give a similar crash profile to hitting a lamppost in a real car in an urban environment. The crashes were performed forwards and backwards twice each.
'Constellation of symptoms'
Mr Stansfield said he had been left with a "constellation of symptoms", leading to a significant decline in his health.
Mrs Justice Yip ruled that the "combined effect" of Mr Stansfield's physical injuries and his psychological reaction to the crash test had caused him "significant impairment" and restricted "his enjoyment of life".
Before the crash tests, Mr Stansfield had been an "exceptionally fit" man, the judge said.
A BBC physical assessment for a 2012 project involving a human powered aircraft, which he had designed himself as a former engineer, suggested he was performing at the level of a competitive athlete.
Mrs Justice Yip said: "I must say that I find it astonishing that anyone thought that this exercise was a sensible idea.
"On his own account to camera, the claimant was simulating a road traffic collision of the sort that commonly causes injury.
"It might be thought that someone of his intelligence and scientific background might have appreciated the risk."
The judgement was not assessing liability, but the extent of Mr Stansfield's injuries and the damages owed.
The judgement said the BBC argued that "little more than a moderate whiplash injury with depressive symptoms" could properly be attributed to the crash tests, so only modest damages should be awarded.
Shared responsibility
She said there was also evidence the BBC actively sought advice and had been warned of the danger yet still allowed the experiment to proceed.
The BBC has agreed to share responsibility and loss of earnings, the ruling said. Mr Stansfield had originally claimed almost £4m in damages.
A BBC spokesman said: "We take the health and wellbeing of everyone who works for the BBC extremely seriously.
"We keep safety measures on set under constant review and we made adjustments following the incident in 2013.
"We acknowledge the court's judgment in this complex case and wish Mr Stansfield the best for the future."
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2021-10-01 15:18:36Z
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