Mama mia meow!

Pizza, Pasta, Parma and Pepperoni: four kittens who survived a trans-continental trek.

Animal welfare officers in Cheshire are preparing to fly home a litter of new-born kittens who survived a 1,000 mile, 48 hour trip in the back of a container lorry.

The driver had no idea the tiny stowaways had joined him on his journey from northern Italy until he opened the container when he arrived in Winsford, near Crewe.

The four kittens, who have been christened Pizza, Pasta, Parma and Pepperoni, were handed over to rabies control officers from Cheshire County Council, and placed in quarantine.

They will enjoy a more comfortable return trip on a flight to Italy, before being reunited with their mother, a warehouse mouser at the Turin plant of the truck-maker, Iveco.

Detective work

Tony McHugh, customer care manager at Iveco's Winsford plant said it was a miracle the kittens were still alive.

"When we found them and realised how far they had come, we were astonished that they were in reasonable health. It must have been incredibly warm, and the journey over the Alps is hardly smooth."

Mr McHugh and local trading standards officers traced the kittens' mother to the Turin plant, and decided to foot the £200 bill to send them home.

Cheshire trading standards' animal welfare officer Neil Wrench said: "We did our sums and found it was marginally cheaper to return the kittens than pay their quarantine bill."

Larry Toale, Cheshire county council's community development chairman, said: "We've managed a life-saving reunion and saved the taxpayer a few pounds as well."

"We don't know exactly how the kittens came to be separated but it is presumed that mum gave birth in the container and took fright when it started to move."