Half a town's power had to be cut off - so rescuers could save a kitten that had climbed up a live electricity pole.

One-year-old Gryffyndor was rescued by the electricity board engineers after spending eight to ten hours up the ten-metre pole. Power in Stow-on-the-Wold also had to be cut off to rescue the adventurous cat just after midnight on Saturday.

Her owner, Verity Edwards-Flaherty, said her family noticed Gryffyndor had not touched her food that day. It was not until 8:30pm that she was spotted on top of the pole by Verity's ten-year-old son Connor.

She told the BBC: “I don’t think the firefighters had seen it ever. Obvious trees yes, that would have been a lot easier.

“But literally this was such a huge risk – to her, us and the firefighters.

“Everyone seemed to be very happy to get her down. All the neighbours were out, and they all didn’t mind which was great.”