WHEN Mike Sugden heard a squeaking noise coming from under the bonnet of his Citroen Picasso, he feared a costly repair bill. Instead, he ended up with a cute, but slightly mischievous, new pet after mechanics at his local garage fished out a stowaway, in the form of a four-week-old kitten, from the engine bay.
It is thought the kitten, which Mike and his partner Katrina Hunt have taken in and named Bluebell, endured a 35-mile trip from Murton near York to the couple's home in Willerby after stumbling on the warm place to take a nap.
Mike had parked at The Yorkshire Museum of Farming, where he is a member of Derwent Valley Light Railway, while he lent a hand at a Christmas show.
He said: "Driving back, I heard a squeaking noise. I had also been having problems with a headlight, so I thought I'd take the car into the garage.
"When the bonnet was popped up, I made out a tiny, little head – not much bigger than a golf ball really."
Mechanic Phil Johnson, of David Johnson's Motor Engineers in Hawthorn Avenue, west Hull, said it was one of the more unusual problems he had encountered on a Citroen Picasso.
He said: "As I was bending down to look at the headlight, I heard a definite 'meow'.
"I turned to Mike, who was standing next to me, and said, 'Is that your phone?' Some phones these days have weird text alerts.
"We then looked down and saw this cat sitting on the gearbox, under the bonnet. It seemed quite happy. I went to pick it up, but it crawled further into the bay.
"With a bit of help from the lads, I managed to coax it out and I grabbed it by the tail, before it crawled further into the chassis."
Mike, 54, a printer at packaging firm Clondalkin in east Hull, took Bluebell, shaken but otherwise none the worse for her road trip, to Kingston Veterinary Group's practice in Anlaby, where she was given a check-up.
Fearing the kitten could belong to one of their neighbours, Mike and Katrina went to some lengths to track down the owner.
"At first, it was a real mystery how it had got there," said Mike.
Katrina, 52, said: "We thought it was possible Bluebell had climbed into the car when it was parked overnight in front of our home.
"We had a load of leaflets printed and distributed them in the area. But we heard nothing."
However, the riddle was solved when Mike spoke to museum staff a few days after the discovery.
"I was telling the story to a few of the guys," said Mike. "One of them told me a little black kitten, a friendly little thing, had climbed up his leg a day or two earlier and he had put it near a pile of wood, close to where I had parked."
Two weeks on from her ordeal, Bluebell has recovered and has settled in well to her new home.
Katrina said: "I have never known such a playful kitten.
"Bluebell is very loving and loves playing with the telephone cable."
Amy Wilson, the veterinary nurse who helped treat the kitten, said: "Bluebell was so friendly and loved being cuddled.
"At the time she was found, she was four to five weeks old. She was in very good condition. Her mum had done a very good job with her.
"She has had a lucky escape, but we're glad there's a happy ending."
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