An eight-month-old cat had a lucky escape when she got trapped in a skip at her home in Bristol and was transported two miles among rubbish which was due to be recycled at the skip yard.

Jason Godwin, of Grass Meers Drive, Hartcliffe, had only just started letting his young cat Lola out of the house, when he hired a skip to help with the clear-out of his garage.

After skip company PH Skips, based in Bishopsworth, came to collect the full skip and take it to the yard, Mr Godwin, his wife Kara, 26, and children Reece, nine, and Corey, three, realised that Lola had gone missing.

Mr Godwin, 27, said: "The day the skip was taken away we didn't see Lola for the rest of the day, which was not like her at all.

"The following morning we started looking high and low for her in local bushes, sheds, gardens and garages, taking our dog for a walk, calling her and shaking her food with no joy.

"Then on Monday morning me and my wife thought that the only other place that we had not thought about was the skip."

PH Skips said the cat had been seen in their holding warehouse in Cater Road, two miles from the Godwin's house, at the back of the rubbish pile.

Sales coordinator Mr Godwin said: "We walked around in there calling her and shaking her food. We did this for about 30 minutes with no sound or sight of the cat.

"There were quite a lot of rats rummaging through all the rubbish and making a lot of noise, squeaking and scattering about.

"Just as we were about to give up, the man who was helping us search said he could hear a faint cry.

"So we stopped and listened, we could then all hear it. We narrowed it down to the area the cry was coming from. Lola then popped her head up from the rubble and was pleased to see us."

Lola was shaking and very dirty, but despite 48 hours away from home and her journey in a skip, she was unhurt.

Mr Godwin said: "We got her straight home and gave her a nice warm shower, some food and she fell straight asleep; she must have been worn out. She has now settled back in to her normal life and routine."