A DEVASTATED father has hit out at BBC car show Top Gear for filming a mock accident yards from where his daughter was killed in a crash.

Jane Sandalls, 26, of Woodstock, died after a car skidded on ice into her Peugeot 106 on January 21, 2010, on the B4437 Woodstock Road, near Charlbury.

Her father, John Sandalls, now wants the BBC to scrap the footage the show filmed of stunted accidents with Peugeots opposite where the fatal crash happened.

But the show said the footage of two cars rolling into a ditch and corn field at low speed would still be used in a “light-hearted look” at the French cars.

Mr Sandalls, 56, of The Green, Charlbury, said: “It’s a very raw subject. I know it’s coming up to five years since she died but she has not gone out of my mind.

“I feel devastated really – they should think about other people’s feelings before they film.

“They would not like it if it happened to their family, that’s my opinion.”

The filming involved Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May rolling their cars into a ditch and corn field.

The Oxford Mail understands it did not involve high-speed collisions.

But Mr Sandalls said it had still brought back painful memories of his daughter’s death.

He said: “Life has been one big struggle for the last four years.

“We were devastated when Jane died, we were never going to be the same again after that crash no matter how hard you try.

“I have had counselling and been on anti-depressants since the crash – it all brings back memories.

“Don’t get me wrong, I watch Top Gear and some bits are a bit of a laugh but some things are childish.”

Mr Sandalls added that his 29-year-old daughter Anna had made a complaint to the BBC, which said it would respond within two weeks.

Oxford Mail:

  • John Sandalls at the scene where his daughter Jane was killed in a crash in 2010

Andy Wilman, the show’s executive producer, said the road was chosen because the ditch was “well known for novices going into”.

He said: “We categorically did not choose that spot because there had been an accident there.

“What we were doing was a light-hearted look at Peugeot driving so there’s not high-speed horror crashes.”

Mr Wilman added that the show would contact Mr Sandalls to discuss his concerns.

He said: “Of course as a father I would have sympathy for another father who has lost one of their children in a crash.

“We will talk with Mr Sandalls directly.”

Oxford Mail:

  • Jane Sandalls

Mr May was photographed in May when his car broke down at the A40 roundabout in Burford – the town he once said he would carpet-bomb immediately if he ever got into power.

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