The owner of a luxury Mercedes Benz found his car turned into a pile of spare parts after he ordered mechanics to search for his son's hamster, lost inside the car for four days.
Alan Pinto bought the hamster for his son Rohan, but on the way home it escaped. A 25-strong garage team first took out the seats, to no avail. Food was left overnight to lure Hammy, as he had been nicknamed. This, too, failed.
By then much of the car was in bits, so the animal welfare organization, the RSPCA, was consulted.
They were told how to prepare a non-dangerous trap for the animal, made of a box and food. The next day they found an empty box and no food.
Then the wife of the garage owner suggested putting a female hamster in a cage near the car. Clearly feeling romantic, well-fed Hammy emerged from the scrap that was once Pinto's pride and joy.
"It just goes to show, you can try everything but it is the scent of a woman which can trap the most elusive of men," commented the garage's sales manager, Belinda Diamond.
Looks like Mr. Pinto will be driving exactly that.....a Pinto.
