A distracted driver crashed while playing with her pet cat in her lap.

Phimonphron Kavikun, 39, had taken her four Persian cats with her as she drove along a dual carriageway to Prachinburi, Thailand, on June 9.

However, one of the misbehaving felines leapt from its seat, prompting the motorist to bend down and pick it back up while the car was still moving.

When she took hold of the steering wheel again, she found she was headed straight towards an electric pole.

The crash sent her sedan flying into a patch of grass on the roadside, where it lay wrecked and overturned. Its bonnet was crumpled and one of its wheels had been flattened.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Nantaphon Khunlakon said they rushed to the scene after receiving a report about the accident. They found a dazed Phimonphron bleeding as she sat on the road shoulder.

She had cuts on her face and arms was in a state of shock from the collision. Her three Persian cats were safe, but the last one was nowhere to be found.

Phimonphron said: 'I remember my cat was being naughty. It wouldn't stay still. I picked it up to keep in my lap and then I lost control of the car.'

Phimonphron has been taken to the hospital to be treated.

Police said that Phimonphron would be warned about safe driving. Lieutenant Colonel Nantaphon said: 'We have told her not to drive with her pet cats as it can be very dangerous.'