Lucky Star the cat has just used up one of her fabled nine feline lives.

The 18-month-old pet survived a six-mile trip under a car engine, barely a foot from the ground.

And it was only when driver Darren Mallalieu took his F-reg Renault Savannah into a vehicle workshop that he discovered her, tucked up behind the car battery and peeping out at him.

"It was nearly a cat-astrophe for her. She's right lucky to survive," said 31-year-old Darren, an armourer with RAF Brize Norton.

Star, the pet of Darren's neighbour Tanya Robinson, hitched an unwanted ride after curling up in a plastic undertray beneath the car's warm engine.

She ended up in Witney when Darren, who lives in Carterton, went to West Oxfordshire College on a day release motor mechanics' course. He drove the car into the college workshop and lifted the bonnet for some instruction with lecturer Phil Evans.

"I saw something white behind the battery, thought it was dead and prodded it. I then recognised it as Star because she was all skinny and white.

"When we eventually got her out, she was very dirty, more black and grey than white."

Phil put on a pair of thick gloves to protect himself from her claws as he rescued her. "She looked terrified, stiff as a poker and eyes like organ stops. But at least she was safe," he said.

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