Stirling Moss falls three storeys down lift shaft

• Sir Stirling Moss's home in Mayfair is full of gadgets

The 80-year-old, who retired from Formula One after a 1962 accident that left him in a coma for four weeks, was said to be "comfortable and recovering".

He broke both ankles and injured his spine in the accident, which happened when the lift doors in his gadget-filled home opened when they should have stayed shut.

A statement on his website said: "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."

The lift, the only one of its kind in the world, is made of carbon fibre and was specially made for him.

It was just one of the many futuristic features in his home in Mayfair, London, including a table that lowers from the ceiling once guests sit down to dinner, a tray that carries letters and papers between the floors, and a bath that can be filled and emptied by remote control.

His home is also decorated with the mangled steering wheel from the Lotus he crashed at Goodwood in 1962, leaving him partially paralysed for six months.

Sir Stirling, who won 16 Formula One races and is still revered as one of the greatest drivers of all time, retired after the crash saying his responses were never sharp enough to race again.

Yesterday, a statement issued by the family said: "The family are very relieved that Stirling survived the fall, demonstrating that his body still has the same resilience to injury as it did in his racing days.

"He is comfortable, following a good night's rest post surgery and is well on the road to recovery. It is expected that it will take up to six weeks for him to recover."

After visiting him in hospital, daughter-in-law Helen Moss said: "I have seen Sir Stirling in hospital and he is very compos mentis.

"The personality is 100 per cent Stirling, although seeing him sitting still is a little unusual for us."

Sir Stirling was admitted to the Royal London Hospital on Saturday evening.