New-born kitten recovering after motorway rescue

National Highways traffic officer Emma Newell helped care for the kitten following the rescue

A new-born kitten is recovering after being rescued from the M1 in South Yorkshire.

The tiny cat was plucked from danger after traffic officers were called to reports of a cat on the carriageway near junction 32 at Thurcroft.

Emma Newell said she and her colleagues made several sweeps of the area before spotting the kitten and setting up a rolling roadblock to pick it up safely.

The five-week old cat is now recovering at a vets in Rotherham.

Ms Newell, who is based at National Highways' Sprotbrough outstation, said after the cat was rescued she and a colleague headed for a nearby supermarket carpark to arrange somewhere to take the kitten to.

"The other crews were single-crewed so I held him and he sat quietly on my lap until we got him to Morrisons car park," she said

"We got a little cardboard box while we were sorting out what vets we could take him to."

The kitten was later taken to Springfield Vets in Rotherham where it has been recovering since 13 July.

Ms Newell added: "We don't know if it had been dumped or if it was feral, but we couldn't find any other cats with her.

"I think if we hadn't have found her, she wouldn't have been around the next day because the rain on the Friday was torrential."