Firefighter Andy with rescued pipistrelle bat.

Trapped bat freed from car in Cheshire

Firefighters may be used to getting calls about cats stuck in trees, but a crew in Cheshire were recently asked to help with a more unusual situation - a bat trapped in a car.

Tor Connolly from Norton Cross accidentally hit the animal with her car. She explained: "I was really upset because I had hit the bat at around 60mph and thought I'd killed it.

"I put it in my car so I could give the poor thing a decent burial but quickly realised it was still alive so I took it home to make sure all was well."

The next morning, the pipistrelle bat seemed to have recovered so she attempted to release it at Manor Park, close to the site of the accident.

It seems the animal had other ideas, however, as it flew back into Tor's car and either crawled or fell into a small hole in the interior cladding.

Local garages were unwilling to help with freeing the bat, so Tor called the Heath Road fire station.

Firefighter Andy Robinson removed the car's inner panelling but still couldn't find the elusive creature, until it decided to come out from its hiding place in the driver footwell.

Andy said: "We are used to getting some batty requests but this is the first one we've had that really did involve rescuing a bat from the inside of a car."

The bat was transferred into a bat box from the station's community garden and taken to a local bat sanctuary.

Image courtesy of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service