You meet people of all walks of life when you’re a taxi driver — Tom Hutchings of South Wales, UK would know. Not only does he drive folks around, he’s the owner of Tommy’s Taxis. But even he’s never gotten a passenger as unexpected as this one. Quite literally, too, since the little one snuck on without Tom even noticing.
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Tom actually didn’t learn of this hidden passenger until he got home after a long day at work. His fiancé, Lauren Lewis, came outside to meet him but, when she did, she became visibly concerned. Lauren quickly let him know that she thought she saw something moving in the car. Rather than the movement coming from one of the seats, it came from behind the front grille. Getting closer, it turned out to be… a cat!
“I jumped a mile,” Tom said. “[The cat] definitely took me by surprise.”
Tom and Lauren immediately got to planning how they could free this trapped feline. They tried grabbing her, but she was too stressed to move. Instead, they grabbed some tools and began taking apart the grille.
Once they were able to free the adorable creature, it was time to figure out how to get her home — if she even had one.
A visit to a vet showed that, despite her tumultuous trip in Tom’s taxi, she was unharmed and healthy. Also, because she was microchipped, they were able to locate and contact her owners. They couldn’t be given info on the owners, but they did find out that this secret passenger is named Gizmo!
“Tommy’s Taxis dropped everything to take his car apart to save this beautiful little guy from his engine yesterday,” Lauren wrote on Facebook. “He then made sure that [she] arrived safely at the vets and didn’t even put the meter on… feline and friends discount I think he called it!”
Turns out, Gizmo had wandered 10 miles from home and had been missing for a whole week. Needless to say, her family missed her greatly. That’s why Tom is so grateful Gizmo chose to hitch a ride with him that day.
“Honestly, it feels great,” Tom said. “I’m so, so happy she’s back at home with her owners, probably eating her weight in treats.”
You can find the sources of this story’s featured image here and here!
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