A TEN-week-old kitten was taken on a long car journey after stowing away in the vehicle's wheel arch.

No one knows exactly how far the tortoiseshell kitten, dubbed Plucky, travelled around North Yorkshire after hitching a ride in the Jaguar.

The owner of the car had driven from Harrogate to Ripon, Boroughbridge and Hawes, before returning to Harrogate, before Plucky's plaintive cries for help were heard.

And the kitten's ordeal did not end straight away.

It took an intensive search of the vehicle by four garage workers to trace the kitten's mews - its ears were spotted sticking out from behind a panel.

After being treated by a vet in Harrogate, Plucky was taken by RSPCA ambulance to the charity's York sanctuary.

There, staff were staggered to hear of its ordeal.

A spokesman said: "No one really knows how many miles it travelled. It's the first incident like this I have known. We have had cats travelling under the bonnets of cars before and surviving, but not a case like this."

Before being treated by the vet, Plucky looked decidedly jaded.

But the RSPCA spokesman said it had made a full recovery and they were now asking its owner to come forward.

"We don't know when the kitten got into the car but it had obviously travelled many miles," she said.

Anyone claiming the kitten is asked to contact the RSPCA on (01904) 654949.