A DRIVER found an unusual hitchhiker under the bonnet of his car while making a routine check on his engine.

Andrew Buckby, of Oakdale, had decided to take a quick look at his engine when he made his alarming discovery - a large orange snake, which had slid on to its warm perch on the car battery.

He said: "I wanted to watch the England-France rugby match, which I was looking forward to, but I had to go out to the local shops because my engine was playing up.

"I opened my bonnet and the first thing I thought was What's that hosepipe doing there?'"

It was when he noticed the hosepipe had scales and had started to move that he decided to contact the RSPCA.

"I thought I could recognise it from a wildlife programme I had seen so I thought it was probably harmless but then it also reminded me of a South American snake I had seen, which very venomous," he said.

"A lady officer duly arrived and with more bravery than myself, my family, and neighbour combined, picked up the sleepy intruder and identified the serpent as probably being a milk snake and although highly colourful - it did look lovely from a distance - it was harmless.

"She told me it was not uncommon for these snakes to find their way in to car engines because they are nice and warm. Ironically I had only changed the battery the week before."

He added: "It may have escaped from someone's home, although the week before I had been in an underground car park in Bristol, so it could have come from there perhaps.

"I couldn't really go around my neighbours asking if any of them had lost a snake."