Ashes cricket legend Freddie Flintoff seen training guide dog as he recovers from horrific Top Gear crash

Since suffering severe injuries in a crash whilst filming for Top Gear last December Flintoff, 45, has rarely been seen out in public, save for a stint working with the England cricket team during their pre-World Cup one-day international series against New Zealand.

Displaying his uncovered face for one of the first times since the crash that left him with ‘life-altering’ injuries, Flintoff was seen out near his £5.25m Hale, Manchester home training a guide dog, a pursuit he has adopted as part of his rehabilitation programme.

Flintoff sustained a broken rib and severe facial injuries after the Morgan Super 3 he was driving flipped over at the Top Gear test track at Dunsford Aerodrome, Surrey last December. The three-wheeled, open-topped vehicle turned over as the helmetless Flintoff took a corner at just 22mph. The father-of-four had to be airlifted to hospital and has since quit his job, with the BBC cancelling the show’s last series.

Steve Harmison, a friend and ex-teammate of Flintoff’s, recently revealed that the England and Lancashire all-rounder was still wearing face coverings up to seven months after the incident, saying in early September: "It's been tough, you've seen the pictures of him with a smile on his face but I saw him about six weeks ago when my son Charlie and his son Rocky played [cricket] against each other and it was great to see him.

"I got to see him then, but at that time he covered his face up when he walked around. Believe it or not, he was training a guide dog, which I'm sure is going better now than it was because he tripped over around three times on his way around the field!"