A curious kitten has been rescued from under a car bonnet after hitching a lift for a 30-mile journey.

The seven-week-old male cat, now named Yaris after the car he stowed away in, was luckily unharmed and has now been offered a home by the driver who found him.

Rosalind O’Brien drove from her home in Winsford, Cheshire, to her mother’s house in Neston, about 30 miles away, last Tuesday before she was alerted to the cat’s presence by a loud meow coming from inside the vehicle.

Ms O’Brien said she had spotted the kitten outside her house the previous night, but when she moved towards Yaris he ran off through a hole in the fence.

She said: “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 and didn’t see anything.

“Then I got in and drove to my mum’s house. It’s a 30-mile journey and I was doing about 65mph for part of it so he was so lucky he didn’t get burned.

“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!”

She was unable to spot the tiny kitten when she opened the bonnet so contacted the RSPCA for help.

Inspector Caren Goodman-James 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.”

Yaris was taken to the RSPCA Stapeley Grange Cattery to be cleaned up and, once he is old enough, Ms O’Brien has offered to give him a home.

“I think fate wanted me to have him – or at least he did!” she said.