Cat to be rehomed after accidentally travelling 130 miles in a car engine on Christmas Day

A cat who travelled 130 miles from Birmingham to London in a car engine will be rehomed, an animal charity has said.

The “friendly” tortoiseshell female was found on Christmas Day after it is thought she snuck underneath a man’s car before he set off and managed to stay hidden for the whole journey.

When the driver pulled up outside a block of flats in east London, passers-by told him they could hear miaowing coming from the engine, the Celia Hammond Animal Trust said in a social media appeal to find her owner.

“When the bonnet was opened, this poor little tortie was found in the engine compartment,” it said.

People outside the flats managed to get hold of her and rushed her into the nearby flat of one of the residents before she had a chance to run away.

Miraculously, the cat was not injured.

By the time the Celia Hammond Animal Trust came to collect her she had calmed down. It found that she was “obviously a sweet, very friendly and much-loved pet”, and named her Tinsel.

However, despite thousands of shares on social media, the charity said it has not received any leads.

The driver did not wait for the cat – who was not microchipped – to be collected, nor tell anyone which part of Birmingham he had come from.

“Unfortunately we don't know what part of Birmingham the man and the car came from. The man just wanted the cat out of his car,” the appeal said.

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Celia Hammond, who founded the trust, said that in spite of all the publicity Tinsel has had – press, television, radio, hundreds of people scouring missing cat sites – her owner has not been found.

Ms Hammond told the BBC: “We couldn't believe after so much publicity, we didn't have anything to go on," she said.

“Several people have offered to give Tinsel a new home.

"We won't have any trouble finding her a home, there will be a happy ending for her, just not the one we hoped for at the start,"