Like most young blokes I used to modify my cars when I first started to drive — lots of crazy bodykits and extras just to make them look a bit mean. My first crash happened in an old Ford Fiesta near Bishop’s Stortford. I was probably going way too fast in a car that was really built to be somebody’s shopping basket. I went out of control and landed in a field. Another time I lost it in the wet and ended up in a bank of trees.
It’s amazing that I never rolled one of my early motors, because I pushed them to the limit. They were hot-hatch lookalikes rather than proper sports cars with the sort of suspension that could cope.
The accidents that really hurt came later when I was on my scooter. I had an Aprilia and was knocked off three times and it was always somebody else’s fault. The worst one happened on a roundabout when it was my right of way and this guy just didn’t stop. My front wheel hit the pavement and I was thrown about 20ft through the air.
I ended up with a bad dead leg but what really annoyed me was the fact that the driver was more concerned with the damage to his motor than whether I was badly injured or not.
The bike served me well for seven years, but riding through London was like a battle scene from Return of the Jedi — they came at you from all angles.
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Jamie’s Return to School Dinners, a one-off follow-up to Jamie’s School Dinners, will be shown on Channel 4 later this month