An assistant director on James Bond movie Spectre has gone to the UK’s High Court in search of $3.5m (£2.5m) in damages after he was left with what he and his lawyers have described as career-ending injuries. In February 2015 Terry Madden says he was hit by a truck while filming in Austria on the movie. He says his two legs were crushed in the accident and he suffered multiple fractures and nerve damage which has led to multiple surgeries.

London law firm Stewarts, which is acting for Madden, elaborated about the accident: “On 17 February 2015, the Second Unit were filming action sequences of an aeroplane flying through a valley in the Austrian Alps using a remotely-operated camera rig mounted on a Range Rover. At the end of one of the shots, the vehicle skidded out of control and hit Mr Madden, pinning him against a camera rostrum and crushing his legs. He was airlifted to hospital in Austria and subsequently repatriated to the UK by air ambulance.”

The insurers for Bond producers Eon Productions admitted liability at the time but Madden says he has yet to receive damages and on Tuesday the AD lodged his case. He is claiming $3.5 million in damages, including future loss of earnings and medical costs. He said, “I felt privileged and proud to work and be part of an active, exciting, but hard working industry, at times sacrificing family life. Then to have a career you worked hard over many years to build up, taken away within a few seconds in this horrendous accident, has been soul destroying. It has limited my mobility greatly and I am unable to do things I once took for granted.”

Madden, 66, is a highly respected AD who often works on second unit. He has worked on a string of Bond films as well as the X-Men and Bourne franchises, and Avengers: Age Of Ultron. London law firm Stewarts is representing Madden. B24 and Eon Productions are listed as defendants on the claim lodged at the London court. Eon was unavailable for comment.