Rowan Atkinson was lucky to be alive last night after he crashed his car.

The English comedian and actor had to drag himself from his high-powered McLaren F1 super car when it burst into flames.

A witness reported that Atkinson, 56, had lost control of the rare vehicle, clipping trees and colliding with a lamppost before coming to a stop on the side of the road and bursting into flames.

The Black Adder and Mr Bean star was looked after by another motorist before emergency services arrived on the scene.

An ambulance took him to Peterborough District Hospital, Cambridgeshire, where he is said to be suffering from a minor shoulder injury.

The incident happened in Cambridgeshire in England's midlands at around 7.30 pm local time.

Firefighters who arrived at the scene of the crash extinguished the blaze so the car could be towed away by McLaren recovery experts.

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Crews brought the fire under control by 8.13pm. They made the vehicle safe and used one hose reel to put out the fire.

“There was one casualty but he was not trapped.”

Mr Atkinson is well known for his love of fast cars and recently recorded the fastest lap time in Top Gear’s Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

He told presenter Jeremy Clarkson he was keen on racing and was currently driving a 1964 Ford Falkan.

But his racing expertise did little to quell his nerves before taking on the challenge, he admitted.

In a clip of the show, uploaded on to YouTube by the BBC on July 22, Atkinson said people would “assume that in the reasonably priced car I will be very good when there's absolutely no guarantee of that whatsoever”.

But the Blackadder actor notched up the fastest ever time on the show, completing the circuit in 1 minute 42.2 seconds.

Atkinson, who owns a number of vintage and exotic cars, bought the McLaren F1 GTR to celebrate the success of the 1997 Mr Bean film. The vehicle reaches a top speed of 230mph and is one of only 65. Its value has soared to more than £1.8m.

Atkinson had previously escaped a car accident with minor injuries in 1999, after colliding with the rear of a Rover Metro in his sports car, and also emerged unhurt after crashing into a dustcart in 2009.