Moss recovers following lift accident

(GETTY)

Motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss has undergone surgery in a London hospital after suffering multiple injuries when a lift malfunctioned at his Mayfair home.

The 80-year-old, who won 16 grands prix between 1951 and 1961, was admitted to the Royal London Hospital on Saturday evening after falling down three floors in the lift shaft at his home. Moss broke both his ankles as well as sustaining four broken bones in his foot, skin aberrations and four chipped vertebrae. He was later moved to the Princess Grace Hospital for further treatment.

A statement on his website confirmed he was "comfortable and recovering" after surgery to both ankles. "His immediate family were present with him at the time of the accident. Paramedics were called and he was taken to the Royal London Hospital. He remained conscious throughout."

The accident occurred "when 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, as it should have been."