‘I found a five foot snake hanging from the dashboard of a car I was driving in the West Midlands’

A delivery driver got the shock of his life after spotting a five foot snake hanging from the dashboard of a car he was dropping off for a customer.

The motorist noticed the stowaway reptile while taking the vehicle from a car dealership in Tipton, West Midlands, to Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire, on Wednesday (April 19).

He quickly pulled over at a service station near Willington, Derbyshire, in "a bit of a panic" after he spotted the 1.5m corn snake slithering from the dashboard at around 9am. Linjoy Wildlife Sanctuary and Rescue attended the scene, but were unable to rescue the creature as it had hidden beneath the seats and gotten into the car’s interior.

Owner Lindsay Newell then had to convince the "reluctant" driver to carry on for another 15 minutes to her house so they could use tools to remove the seats. Lindsay and her colleague Mark eventually managed to reach the snake’s head and despite nearly being bitten, they got it out safely unharmed.

The Vauxhall Insignia then had to be put back together following the 30 minute rescue mission before the driver could continue on his journey. Lindsay, 36, who has run the sanctuary for 15 years, said the customer was "very understanding" about his late delivery.

She said: "We had a call from a gentleman who works at a car dealership saying there was a snake in a car he was delivering. He spotted it hanging down from the dashboard and pulled over in a bit of a panic at a service station.

"Our volunteer Mark went out to see him and reassure him it wasn’t dangerous and was not going to attack him. We tried using some forceps to reach him but he managed to get underneath the passenger seat and underneath the carpet.

"Where the seat attaches to the frame of the vehicle there’s a hole and it had gone under there. We could only see its tail but couldn’t reach it. We then had to convince the man to drive another 15 minutes to my house in Burton because it needed special tools to remove the car seats.

"He was a bit reluctant to start with but we pointed out the snake was hiding and wouldn’t come out and bite him. Once he got here, we spent about half an hour trying to find him again as he had managed to get himself weaved in with the interior wires behind the dashboard.

"We put a phone camera against the trim and we could just see its scales in the mid-section of the car. At this point it was trying to get away - still trying to slither off to get further in.

"I grabbed the tail and mid section while Mark went for the head. The snake wasn’t happy about being pulled about a bit and did try and bite Mark. But we managed to get him out safely. He was a little bit cold so he must have been there a few days. Luckily he was uninjured apart from a few scuff marks to his scales and he is currently recovering at my home."

Corn snakes are a species of rat snake native to North America. They are not venomous but will bite if threatened and can grow up to two metres long. It is believed the adult male was a dumped pet and he may have climbed into the vehicle for warmth.

Lindsay added: "We’re not sure where he came from but believe he must have been a dumped pet. He probably got into the car to find somewhere warm like the engine. The car was at a dealership in Tipton and was valeted a few days before locally. It was then driven from the dealer presumably with the snake hitching a ride.

"It certainly gave the driver a shock. The carpet, plastic trims and the passenger side seat all had to be removed and we had to put it all back together afterwards. The customer was very understanding but probably a bit confused when he was told his car was late being dropped off because a snake had been found inside it. I’m sure they wouldn’t have wanted a snake with their purchase."