A regional press sports editor had to be airlifted to hospital after a karting accident while on holiday in Andorra.

Steve Mellen, from the Bristol-based Western Daily Press and Evening Post, crashed into rocks as he descended the karting course on a 2,000ft high Pyrenean mountainside.

He is recovering in hospital and fortunately did not break any bones or suffer serious injuries.

Speaking from his Andorran hospital bed, he told his hometown paper the East Anglian Daily Times: “It was a scary experience and I’m glad to have got out of it in one piece.

“We had been enjoying a number of activities, including a high ropes course and mountain biking.

“The go-karting was on a ski slope – the karts didn’t have motors, they were basically reinforced plastic and wheels that build up speed through gravity and momentum.

“I realised halfway down that my brakes didn’t appear to be working properly.

“I tried to steer my way through it but I was going at an incredible speed – I wouldn’t like to guess how fast – and I thought ‘it looks like I could be in trouble here’.”

The 35-year-old explained how he crashed into a rock and then flew into a ditch filled with more rocks.

“After the impact I couldn’t breathe and there was blood everywhere,” Steve added.

“The first thing anyone knew about it was when the next guy to come down the slope pulled up next to me.”

Steve was flown to hospital wearing a neck brace and oxygen mask where he was placed on a trauma ward with suspected internal bleeding and kidney damage.

Further tests have ruled out serious injury and he is expected to return home later this week.

Steve travelled to the region with other journalists on the invitation of the Andorran government to coincide with England’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra on Saturday.