A SEVEN-WEEK-OLD kitten had to be rescued from under the bonnet of a car that travelled 30 miles from Winsford to Neston last week.

Rosalind O’Brien heard a loud meow coming from inside her car as she pulled up outside her mum's house.

She called out the RSPCA, who found the cat had escaped any burns or injuries from the journey, and now Rosalind has offered to provide a loving home for him.

Rosalind said: "The day before that, I heard a meowing sound outside my front door but I wasn’t sure if it was a bird or something – and every time I went outside to check, the noise just stopped.

"Then when I came home from work at about 10pm, I heard it again. This time I saw a little ball of black fluff in the dark, I grabbed a torch and saw that it was a kitten but when I moved toward him he shot off through a hole in the fence.

“In the morning, I didn’t hear him or see him but as I’d last seen him near the car, I even checked under the car to see if he was there but didn’t see anything.

"Then I got in and drove to my mum’s house. It’s about a 30-mile journey and I was doing about 65mph for part of it so he was so lucky he didn’t get burned or anything. I didn’t hear a thing in the car but I did have the music on quite loud.

"When I pulled up I heard that meow again and I thought, oh my god he’s in the car. We tried for ages to get him out but I could only hear him, I couldn’t see him.”

After being rescued, the cat was taken to Stapeley Grange to be cleaned up.

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Caren Goodman-James, RSPCA inspector, said: "It wasn’t an easy rescue. It was quite tricky getting the kitten out. I had to lie on the ground getting quite wet and dirty as I moved engine parts around until we could free him."

Once old enough he will be reunited with Rosalind, who has named him Yaris after the Toyota he was inside.

She added: "I think fate wanted me to have him – or at least he did."