A PENSIONER has come to the aid of a road maintenance worker who received a vet's bill worth a week's wage after he rescued a cat from a busy motorway.

Peter Kimbley braved six lanes of the A64 in Leeds to save the cat, which had been knocked over.

The cat, later called Lucky, was treated for hypothermia, had most of its teeth removed, its lower jaw wired and a back leg amputated. The initial bill came to £310, and Lucky will require more treatment, but Mr Kimbley said it was worth it.

Responding to an article in The Northern Echo about Lucky's rescue, Christine Johnson, 79, of Bedale, North Yorkshire, has come forward to pay the bill.

She said: "I am not especially a cat lover, but I think for a man to stop his vehicle and cross and go across a motorway to save the cat, in this day and age, was a great thing to have done. That cat would have died a horrible death if he had not done what he did."

Mr Kimbley of Langley Moor, near Durham said: "I am absolutely delighted with the news."

Another reader, Mary Thompson, of Newton Hall, Durham, has donated £20, which will go towards more treatment for Lucky.