F1 legend Sir Stirling Moss breaks ankles in lift fall

Sir Stirling won 16 F1 Grand Prix races in his illustrious career

Sir Stirling Moss is recovering in hospital after falling down a lift shaft at home and breaking both ankles.

The Formula One racing legend, 80, fell three floors when his lift opened in error on Saturday, his website said.

Paramedics were called to his home in Mayfair and he underwent surgery at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.

He also broke four bones in a foot, chipped four vertebrae and suffered skin damage, the website said. His family said he was recovering well.

'Very unfortunate'

The website said: "He remained conscious throughout. With the assistance of Professor Sid Watkins he was moved on Sunday to a hospital closer to his home where he underwent surgery on both his ankles, which were plated and pinned.

"The door to the lift, that should have remained locked if the lift was not on the floor that it was called from, opened in error.

"He stepped into the narrow open shaft in the expectation that the lift would be present for him to walk into, as it should have been."

Lady Moss, Sir Stirling's wife, said: "This was a very unfortunate accident, it could have just as easily been another member of the family stepping into where the lift should have been."

His family said he was comfortable after a good night's rest and they expected the recovery to take up to six weeks.

Sir Stirling is known in the racing community as the greatest driver never to have won the Formula One championship.

He won 16 Grand Prix races between 1951 and 1961 and retired after crashing at Goodwood in 1962.