A HAMSTER caused havoc by munching its way through an airbag, leaving the car's owner with a £2,500 bill.

A rental company took the Chevrolet Spark to the JCT600 Vauxhall Bradford dealership after it developed a short circuit in an airbag.

Technicians discovered a wire been chewed through and the side passenger airbag, housed in the roof, had been eaten along with the trim.

Staff suspected there was an animal in the car and left peanuts as bait. JCT600 service manager Tony Robinson said: "Every morning we all rushed over to the car and peered through the windows to see if the nuts had been eaten, and each morning they had been, but with no sign of the culprit."

Mechanics discovered where the bait had gone when they examined the car's roof and dozens of peanuts fell on their heads.

The next morning, one of the mechanics saw something moving in the boot and found the hamster, which has been named Sparky.

The car had previously been rented to a customer with a pregnant hamster and staff believe Sparky to be about four weeks old.

Technicians were forced to move various parts of the car during their search and Sparky's exploits also led to the car being rewired as part of "fairly extensive work" to get it back on the road.

Mr Robinson said Sparky had now been rehomed by a member of staff.

"According to the rental company, the car had been rented to a customer with a pregnant hamster," he said.

" As she hasn't claimed Sparky, the hamster has been adopted by our senior service adviser, Zoe Randle.

"Unfortunately, as a result of being a hamster's home, the Chevrolet needs fairly extensive work, including completely rewiring.

"The good news is that, having spent the day sleeping in a cardboard box in my office recovering from his exploits, Sparky is now happily settled in his new cage at home with Zoe where hopefully he will cause less damage."