TWO ice skaters had their dreams of appearing with Torvill and Dean dashed in a serious practice accident.

Andrew Hastings and Robert Firkins were taken to hospital after the late-night incident just hours ahead of their appearances at Wembley Arena in the Dancing on Ice tour.

The Oxford Freestylers team – Jordan Heeley, Joey Tsang, Wayne Oliver, Lawrence Osborn-Edwards, Mr Hastings and Mr Firkins – had won the chance to appear in the eight Wembley shows after taking part in the Hottest Ice Stars of Tomorrow competition, part of ITV’s popular show Dancing On Ice.

Mr Firkins was left with a bad knee injury and Mr Hastings suffered severe bruising in the collison on the ice on Thursday night.

Mr Hastings, 21, from Littlemore, Oxford, told the sell-out crowd at yesterday afternoon’s show: “During the late-night session we practised ‘The Train’ five times and it was on the last time when Rob caught me square in the face with his knee.

“I was knocked out and Rob has dislocated his knee and injured ligaments.”

The heavily-bruised Mr Hastings stood next to Mr Firkins, who had to use crutches to walk on to the stage.

The Dancing on Ice Tour is a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the gold-medal winning Bolero routine at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who coach the dancers taking part in the TV show.