Black Country cat travels 160 miles under bonnet
A young cat has used up one of its nine lives after surviving a 160-mile journey under the bonnet of a van.
The 11-month-old ginger tom called Paddy climbed into the hiding place to shelter from snowy conditions.
But before long he was on a two-and-a-half hour journey from the Black Country to Hampshire, at speeds of up to 70mph. Courier Ian Westwater found the cat, which had been missing from his neighbour's house in Rowley Regis for two days, while investigating a strange purring noise.
"I was at the delivery address, and I heard a kind of meowing," he said. "I opened the bonnet and could see the cat on a shelf by the wheel arch. It was curled up in a ball covered in oil but it was alive and perfectly healthy."
Mr Westwater first travelled to Peartree Lane, Dudley, to collect his cargo, and the journey in his Mercedes Sprinter van then took him along the M5, M42, M40, A34 and finally the A303 before arriving in Andover, Hampshire, where the cat was found.
Paddy's name and address were not on his collar but Mr Westwater was able to locate the owners – Steph Williams and Tony Weaver – by knocking on neighbours' doors when he returned to his home in Midhill Drive.
They told him Paddy – born on St Patrick's Day – had been missing for two days. Mr Westwater, a 36-year-old father-of-one who runs Bellwest Transport Ltd, has been a courier for the past 18 years but said: "I would say it is probably up there with the most bizarre experiences."
Miss Williams, 22, said today she was delighted to have her pet home safe and sound after his ordeal last month. "When he did not come back, we thought the worst," she said.
