FIREFIGHTERS had to be called to the aid of a kitten which had travelled for six miles trapped on a lorry’s windscreen wipers.

The lorry driver raised the alarm after arriving at the East Anglian Railway Museum.

The lorry was parked outside the museum, which is based at the Chappel and Wakes Colne station, when the driver heard meowing coming from his engine bay.

Upon inspection, a grey and white kitten was found wedged in the lorry’s engine compartment trapped under the windscreen wiper mechanism.

Staff from the museum and the lorry driver called the RSPCA for help.

Gazette: Fire crews were called by the RSCPA to free the kitten (Stuart Dagnan)Fire crews were called by the RSCPA to free the kitten (Stuart Dagnan)

But when they realised they didn’t have the right tools to release the cat, the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service was called in to action at 9.48am.

They worked carefully and delicately and were able to free the kitten by 10.34am.

Fire crews from Colchester attended the incident and believe the cat had crawled in to the lorry overnight.

Crew manager Noel Bush said: “The lorry driver heard a cat meowing and found it inside the bonnet.

“He had been parked overnight in Wormingford and it must have climbed up and got trapped in the windscreen wiper mechanism.

“We managed to use our tools to unbolt a few bits and free it.

“We left in the care of the RSPCA who believe it is a feral cat.”

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Gazette: The cat's head was wedged in the engine bay (Stuart Dagnan)The cat's head was wedged in the engine bay (Stuart Dagnan)

Stuart Dagnan, 36, is a front of house assistant at the museum and witnessed the drama unfold.

He said: “It was just outside the museum.

“I literally had just come to work and I saw a lorry parked outside.

“I thought it was a delivery or something, but there was a kitten stuck in the front.

“It was completely wedged.

“Its legs were hooked over the windshield wiper mechanism and it had its head wedged, keeping it in.

“It got out safely.

“We called the RSPCA first, but they didn’t have the right equipment, so we got in contact with the fire brigade.

“We don’t know how it got in there, but I did read online that they like to go and sleep in sort of warm places.”