Driver finds kitten in car engine - after a week under bonnet

Michael Dunn, from Lower Gornal, drove around 150 miles with the seven-week-old moggy under his bonnet.

The kitten has been named Lucky following its miraculous escape and is now living with Mr Dunn and his wife Gail.

She was finally discovered on Wednesday night and had got into the car a week earlier after running in front of Mr Dunn's Mazda MX5 in Kingswinford.

But following an extensive search for the elusive kitten - which included removing parts of his engine - the father-of-four gave up, thinking Lucky had managed to get out on her own.

But over the next few days he was convinced that he could hear a cat meowing when he drove and when he was in bed - so decided to resurrect the search.

And when he lifted the bonnet of his car on Wednesday, there she was staring up at him. The spooked kitten quickly went back down below to where it had been living for the past week, but with the help of the mechanic Lucky was eventually freed.

Mr Dunn, aged 44, said: "She had been living above the gear box so no-one could get to him. I phoned a friend who is a mechanic, he jacked the car up and we found her right on top of the gear box."

Although the kitten was filthy having spent a week in the engine of a car, she was checked over by the RSPCA and was judged to be in good health.

Lucky has been welcomed into the Dunn household where there was already a dog and another cat.

Mr Dunn's wife Gail has become particularly fond of the new arrival.

"She's happy with him," Mr Dunn said. "We knew as soon as we got her out that nobody else was having her."