MOTOR racing legend Stirling Moss is recovering in hospital after a 30ft fall down a lift shaft at his home. The retired Formula One champion was brought to the Royal London Hospital on Saturday after breaking both ankles and chipping his spine

By Mike Brooke

MOTOR racing legend Stirling Moss is recovering in hospital after a 30ft fall down a lift shaft at his home.

The retired Formula One champion, who is now 80, was brought by ambulance to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel on Saturday night after breaking both ankles, four bones in his foot and chipping his spine in the freak accident at his six-storey home in Mayfair.

The racing legend was transferred from the Royal London on Sunday to Princess Grace Hospital in St Marylebone, closer to his home, where he underwent surgery on both his ankles, which were plated and pinned.

The accident happened when the lift shaft door opened in error while the elevator was three floors down.

Sir Stirling Moss stepped into the narrow open shaft thinking the lift was there and plunged 30ft. His family were relieved that he survived the fall, said a statement, demonstrating that his body still has the same resilience to injury as it did in his racing days. He is well on the road to recovery which is expected to take six weeks.

Moss won 16 Grand Prix races from 1951 to 1961 before retiring after his crash at Goodwood a year later.