A LUCKY black cat has been reunited with his owners after being taken to the RSPCA Warrington branch.

The seven-year-old puss was rescued after crawling into the car engine of a vehicle at Manchester Airport before being driven 30 minutes down the road to Stockport.

The owner of the car, Maria Locher, called the RSPCA when she got home on February 20 and found the poor cat when she lifted the bonnet of her car up.

RSPCA animal welfare officer Steve Wickham along with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were eventually able to remove the cat from the car engine by removing the battery.

Other than a few burns the black cat was unharmed and cared for by staff in Warrington.

He was not microchipped leading to worries he would not be able to be reunited with his owner but fortunately owner Ian Southworth saw the cat - whose name is Bubbles - while checking local news websites while on holiday in Dubai last week.

The Mobberley man added: “I thought ‘that looks a lot like my cat’ - he had been missing for about a week before we went away.

“He has gone before for a week or 10 days and we kept looking for him and expecting to see him when we came downstairs.

“He looks in great health now, he seems to be healing fine although we will be keeping him indoors for a little while.

“He seemed to enjoy his stay with the RSPCA a bit too much as we struggled to get him back into his basket when we picked him up. He certainly is very lucky.”

Ian picked Bubbles up today, Wednesday, and says his family are thrilled to have him back home safe again.