A snake expert is seen tugging a venomous black mamba out of a car engine after it slithered in there to shelter from people attacking it.

Snake aficionado Jason Arnold was filmed winkling the snake out of the engine compartment in the city of Durban in eastern South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.

The reptile hunter said the driver of the car was at one point trapped inside it, fearing the highly venomous snake would bite him if he tried to get out.

Mr Arnold said of the driver: "He heard people screaming and shouting and saw a big snake underneath the overhang of the building."

The 7-foot-2-inch (2.2-metre) reptile was seen to wriggle under the man’s car at around 1.30pm after witnesses threw things at it, local media reported.

It was not clear how long the man stayed in his car but he eventually summoned the courage to open the door and dash out.

Before anti-venom treatments were available, bites from black mambas were nearly always fatal. The species is not endangered.