Telecoms engineer Dwayne Ofoeme told the BBC he discovered the cat, who has been christened Ringo, after driving from Liverpool to Newcastle-under-Lyme in the U.K. on Monday.

Ofoeme said that as soon as he and his colleagues stopped the vehicle at the end of the journey they “immediately heard meowing,” but initially assumed “it was just a cat under the van.”

On closer inspection, he realized the noise was coming from the underside of the van, where he quickly spotted a tiny kitten clinging to the bottom of the vehicle.

“I couldn’t believe it.,” he told the BBC. “He was really scared and I tried for a long time to try and reach him but he just wouldn’t come out, so we decided to call the RSPCA [Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals].”

An inspector from the RSPCA was called to help coax the cat out.

The RSPCA says the 1.3lb kitten likely climbed into the bottom of the van when it left Aigburth in Liverpool on Monday.

Despite being a little oilier than usual, the animal charity says Ringo was “doing well” all things considered. RSPCA inspector Jackie Hickman said: “His little paws were oily and he was extremely hungry, but otherwise in good health.”

An extremely vocal cat despite his diminutive size, Ringo’s survival defies logic, according to Hickman. “How he’s managed to cling to the undercarriage of the van for so long, I will never know,” she said.

Ringo has been checked over by a vet and is not thought to be a feral cat, meaning that somewhere out there is a young mum and family missing a kitten.

Hickman is urging anyone who may be missing a pet to get in touch.

Ofoeme is just happy to hear Ringo made it through his ordeal unscathed, telling the BBC he “was such a character” to be around and both he and his colleagues were “so pleased he’s OK.”

Newsweek has contacted the RSPCA for comment.

Ringo’s story comes a week after another cat, called Trudie, celebrated finding a forever home, less than a year after being hit by a bus in a collision that left her blind in one eye and in desperate need of life-saving surgery.

In September, a cat that had been missing and presumed dead for more than a decade was reunited with his owner after being discovered living in a local cemetery.

Update 11/4/21, 6:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated to add a video and photos of Ringo.