News: Woman finds boa constrictor in second-hand Golf

IT SOUNDS like an optional extra for a Dodge Viper or an AC Cobra but a boa constrictor that gave one car buyer a nasty surprise was coiled up in the boot of a £200 VW Golf.

The buyer, Charlie Wise, from Thatcham, Berkshire, bought the car online. Flushed with pride, she took it home to give it a thorough clean.

When the 23-year-old nursery worker opened the boot she saw what she thought was a toy snake lying in the back. Only when it stuck out its tongue, did she and her husband Guy realise it was real. They both screamed, slammed the boot shut and fled.

She said: “I bought the car home to clean it, to find a live snake in the boot. It was huge and scary.”

Wise contacted the police and RSPCA but they were unable to help until the morning. So Wise called Berkshire Reptile Rescue in Bracknell which sent specialist Grahame Martin to tackle the boa.

He found the 3ft-long snake to be dehydrated and blind in one eye, and took it away for treatment.

Wise contacted the car’s previous owner, Christopher Morrison, 29, to ask him if he knew there had been a boa constrictor in the car when he sold it.

The roofer and reptile collector said he had lost the snake two months ago when he took it to a friend’s house in the Golf. He told Wise it had been in a cage and that he had searched the car thoroughly without success, but insisted he would not have sold the car had he known the snake was still in it.

Search for and buy used Volkswagens (hopefully without any scaly surprises inside)