Carried to London on spare wheel of lorry
Safe at home on Monday afternoon after a 250-mile mistake journey, was Tibbles, the five year old ginger and white cat who was carried all the way from Appledore to London on the spare wheel of a lorry. For three days 18 year old Miss Mary Williams of Market Street, Appledore, searched for her lost pet.
In London Tibbles was found by driver Harry Wilson who was taking a load of flowerpots to Hillingdon, Middlesex. After making the Appledore-London journey, he found the cat, splashed with mud and grit, curled up on top of the spare wheel, and took it to the London headquarters of the RSPCA. When a national newspaper carried the story of a cat’s arrival in London, complete with picture, the cat was recognised by its owners. Tibbles was returned via the Atlantic Coast Express in a basket to Bideford Station where Mary was waiting, then it was home to Appledore for a special feed of fish.
Gazette article 29 August 1958