Two curious kittens who hopped a ride in a van were fortunate to get back home thanks to a community effort to trace their whereabouts.

As a busy Doncaster minister, Reverend Carol Lee had been in and out of home tending to various errands. It was only when her kittens Daisy and Poppy failed to appear like clockwork at tea-time that she noticed they were not around.

When calling for them didn’t work, husband Dr Simon Lee went out on his bike to search for them, with no luck.

Carol said: “I remembered that we’d had the Green Thumb lawn man around during the day to do some gardening, and we wondered if the kittens had climbed in and been driven away. They do have a tendency to try and climb into our cars, so it wasn’t impossible.

“Simon contacted the company first thing the next morning to enquire and found out the driver had spotted a kitten under his van at one of his stops, and he’d shooed it away for fear of it getting run over.”

Green Thumb then contacted all the customers on the round asking them to keep an eye out and Carol and Simon printed up missing cat posters and delivered them in the local area.

Carol was also advised to post that the kittens were missing on the ‘Lost and found, dogs, cats, pets in Doncaster Facebook page’ and the local Cats Protection page.

Cats Protection Doncaster fosterer Ruth Clark kept a special eye on developments as she cared for Poppy and Daisy after they were rescued from near certain death last year.

The pair hit the headlines when discovered in a plastic box along with their mother and two other littermates on a disused farm during a violent storm last July. The scared quartet were gently nursed back to health before they were ready to be adopted.

Their rocky start has not held Poppy and Daisy back from developing playful, inquisitive personalities.

Following their escape, a Green Thumb customer phoned to say there was a kitten meowing at the door to be let in.

Carol continued: “From the Facebook post I received a message that two kittens had been seen in the messenger’s mother’s garden. They had managed to take a photo of one of them and sure enough it was Poppy. They would message again if they returned.

“Later that evening, around 11pm, we received a phone call from the customer after us on the Green Thumb round, a kitten was at her door meowing to come in. As we were leaving to collect her, I received another message that one of the kittens had now returned to her mother’s garden.

“We rushed around to both addresses with a fabric carrier. Both houses were very close, with the gardens almost backing on to one another, and we were able to find them both and bring them home on the same evening.

“It was such a relief to have them back home, they had both travelled for around half a mile and so I don’t think they would have been able to find their own way back.

“Everybody was so helpful and supportive, the community really came together to help us find them.”

Tracey Hawkins of Green Thumb Doncaster West: “I was so happy to be of help. I’m a huge animal lover and couldn’t bear to think of Poppy and Daisy lost somewhere and I was so pleased to hear they got home safely.”

Carol credits her cats for helping her through a difficult period in which she lost both her mother and her elderly cat.

She said: “We lost our old cat Sam, who had reached the grand age of 25, and I had recently lost my mother, so we wanted another cat in our lives. We first adopted Cedric from Cats Protection and then I thought he could do with some company. Ruth told me about the kittens that were available and they soon became part of the family. They all get along and often play together in the garden, but they also like to hide away for a bit of peace from each other.

“They have brought so much pleasure to our lives and really helped me through a difficult time losing my mum. I would urge anyone to consider adopting a cat.”

To find out more about Cats Protection Doncaster www.cats.org.uk/doncaster

Photos of Poppy and Fluffy, their owners and the Green Thumb van are available here: Dropbox – Doncaster kittens