TOP Gear presenter James May had a lucky escape when an airship he was travelling in crash landed in a field near St Neots on Tuesday evening (September 29). May, 46, had been taking part in a bizarre challenge for the BBC television show in which a carav

TOP Gear presenter James May had a lucky escape when an airship he was travelling in crash landed in a field near St Neots on Tuesday evening (September 29).

May, 46, had been taking part in a bizarre challenge for the BBC television show in which a caravan was attached to the bright orange airship and flown across Cambridgeshire.

It was supposed to land on a cricket pitch but strong winds blew it off course and it landed on its side in a farmer's field near the A428 in Eltisley.

Eyewitness Peter Clarke, 37, of Eltisley told the Daily Telegraph newspaper the airship was "a very strange sight".

He said: "I understand they were planning to land on the village cricket green in the middle of a match.

"All the cricketers were there dressed in their whites waiting for it to appear, but it started drifting off in the wrong direction."

The stunt was believed to be the end of a race between James May in an airship and co-presenter Richard Hammond, 39, in a Lamborghini.

A spokeswoman for Top Gear said May was uninjured.