Tonyrefail: Kitten stuck in taxi engine for 500 miles

A kitten has been discovered stuck behind the grille of a taxi following a whopping 500-mile round trip.

The cat was spotted after cab driver Tom Hutchings returned home to Tonyrefail in Rhondda Cynon Taf having driven to Bristol Airport, Llanelli, Cardiff and Treherbert.

The fare-dodging feline was then taken for a check-up and turned out to have been missing from home for a week.

"I think the owners had given up ever seeing her again," said Tom.

The close encounter took place last week after the 32-year-old's fiancee noticed something odd after he pulled up outside their house in his Mercedes-Benz Citan.

"She told me to look behind the grille - I had no idea what she'd seen or what might be in there," said Tom, who's been running Tommy's Taxis for only few months.

"I definitely didn't expect to see this little pink nose and a pair of green eyes suddenly appear just centimetres away from my face."

Grabbing his tool box he managed to remove the front bumper and lift out the cat, before then taking her to a nearby vet.

"She must have been exhausted from her travels because she fell fast asleep on the passenger seat right next to me," he added.

After being given a clean bill of health a quick social media search revealed that the animal, whose name turned out to be Gizmo, had been missing from her home in Miskin for about a week.

"Her owners had ruled out ever seeing her alive again, and I've still no idea how she managed to get to Tonyrefail from Miskin," said Tom.

"That's a good six or seven miles from where we live and I've not picked up a fare from there in several weeks.

"All I can think is she hitched a ride on one of the big lorries that come and go from an industrial estate up there, a few of which occasionally come through our estate.

"Other than that it's a complete mystery," he added.