A MISCHIEVOUS moggy who sneaked inside a work van for a nap got a rude awakening when he hopped out – 255 miles away in Suffolk.

TC went missing from his home in Oxbridge, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, for three days.

He eventually turned up in Suffolk after taking refuge in the work van of a Southwold joiner who was up north looking at a kitchen belonging to a friend of a friend.

The joiner then went on to a job in Lincoln, where he noticed the four-legged stowaway.

He carried on home with TC still on board and later called his friend to ask if she recognised the cat – which she did.

She got him to send a picture of the cat on the phone and showed it to its very relieved owner, Lisa Skerritt

The 37-year-old full-time mum, who had been preparing to tell her eight-year-old daughter Cody-Olivia that their beloved pet was probably dead, said: 'She [her neighbour] asked me if I had a quite fat black-and-white cat and was he missing?

'When she said 'He's in Suffolk' I said which number – I'll walk over and get him. I thought she meant Suffolk Street, over the road.

'She said 'No – Suffolk the county!'

'Cody was so excited. She legged it outside to tell all her friends. She thought he'd been to London to see the Queen.

'All the animals in our family are mad and TC has always been a bit of a wanderer – but never this far.

'He's had his little holiday now – so hopefully he won't go travelling again.'

TC, who is nearly three, was happily reunited with his family after a round trip of more than 500 miles.

Neighbour Rowena Harrison said: 'The cat was curled up on a seat in the back of the van. He [the joiner] didn't know at that point where it was from or when it had got in.'