An Oxfordshire man left a paraplegic after being thrown from a car has appeared on TV’s Countdown puzzle game.

Andrew Mitchell suffers from memory problems following the accident in 1982 but didn’t let it deter him appearing on one of his favourite shows.

The 45-year-old said he had always enjoyed word puzzles and was a big fan of the Channel 4 programme, where two contestants pit their word and numeracy skills against each other, and its former co-presenter Carol Vorderman.

After looking at Countdown’s website he spotted a button to press to apply to go on the show — and decided to give it a go.

Mr Mitchell said: “I applied on the website and they contacted me.

“I went to Oxford for a trial to see if I was good enough and then I had to travel to Leeds to film the show.”

He said during filming he had a few problems with the light shining on the screen in the studio, but had really enjoyed the experience, even though he lost.

Mr Mitchell said: “I have wanted to go on the programme for the past five or six years.

“It was good. It was definitely worth applying.”

On Tuesday, Mr Mitchell’s friends gathered at his home in Summers Close, Twyford, near Banbury, to watch him do battle against the clock.

His mum Sheila, of The Rise, in Twyford, said: “He was looking forward to it. He was hoping to meet Carol but she had left.

“He won’t miss the show — he comes home early if he has been out just to watch it.”

Mr Mitchell was almost 18 when he and three friends were driving near Hook Norton when their car hit a bridge.

Mrs Mitchell said: “He was in the back of a car and two friends were in the front. He shot through the windscreen. Of the two front seats passenger, one had a broken arm and the other had a scratch.

“Andrew hadn’t got a scratch on him but his brain got banged and it left him paralysed.”

Initially Mr Mitchell was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, where he spent several months.

He was later transferred to the Horton Hospital in Banbury and also visited the Rivermead Rehabilitation Centre, in Abingdon Road, Oxford, but staff could do little to help him.

Mr Mitchell lived with his parents until two years ago, when he moved to the nearby assisted living complex in Summers Close. Mrs Mitchell said after the accident Andrew could not speak for the first year and had to learn to talk and write again.

She said: “There were two cleaners at the Horton Hospital and they encouraged him.

“He started off like a child, saying things very slowly.

“When I went to visit him one day he said ‘hello mum’. It was thanks to the cleaners.”