Corn snake found in car on M5 in Worcestershire

A couple driving home in a newly purchased used car had to pull over after finding a 5ft-long snake inside.

The man and woman became aware something was wrong when their dog, who was in the back of the vehicle, became "distressed", police said.

When the couple investigated, they saw the snake had wrapped itself around one of the pet's legs.

They continued their journey home with the snake still inside the vehicle after failing to find it.

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Claire Brealey, from Bristol, said she was shocked when she realised the reptile was inside the used Nissan Navara vehicle they had just bought.

She said: "The dog was in the back of the car. I glanced back and saw this bright orange and white snake wrapped around his legs.

"I turned to my partner and said, 'there's a snake in the back of the car.'"

They dismantled the car's interior when they got home in an attempt to find the snake, but it has not been located.

"We think it's still in [there]," she said.

Central Motorway Police Group said one of its patrols came across the couple on the hard shoulder of the M5 in Worcestershire, between junctions seven and eight, at about 21:00 BST on Thursday.

"When we found them they were a bit shaky," Sgt Dave Lonsdale said.

He said the pair were on the way home after buying the car in Sheffield.

Fiona Wellington, 42, said she believed the snake may have belonged to her, after her pet snake Keith went missing before she sold the car to a dealer.

She said a friend saw the story on Facebook earlier and she had "been stressing ever since" because she "didn't tell [the dealers] about the snake in the car".

Mrs Wellington, from Sheffield, said she was taking her snake to work at a children's mental health unit, where one boy was "obsessed with snakes".

She added: "I put Keith in his travel box and my son, Jack, opened up the box to say goodbye and I don't think he closed it properly."

Mrs Wellington said when she got to work, the snake was gone and she "literally gutted the downstairs in my house".

She said "we searched everywhere, under the seats, behind the dashboard" but could not find the snake. She later found a snake skin in the vehicle.

The snake was identified as a harmless corn snake by a reptile company using pictures taken by police.

It is thought it crawled into the structure of the car. Unable to find it, the couple decided to continue their journey with the intention of looking properly at home.

Sgt Lonsdale added: "The officers assessed the scale of the problem but ultimately the couple knew the snake would not harm them.

"It's definitely not a regular occurrence for us."

In a tweet the force said it was the "most bizarre job for a long time".