An enormous 13ft-long python was found hiding inside a car's dashboard in Thailand.

The wild serpent was recently rescued from a villager's home and was about to be taken to the forest in Nonthaburi province on November 19 morning.

However, when the driver and rescue volunteer opened up his vehicle in the afternoon, the snake was not inside the cage. He found it instead squeezed inside the minivan's console so he called colleagues for help.

Footage shows the 20kg snake coiled among the wires in front of the driver's seat.

Driver and rescuer Krairat Suksomphot, 53, said: ‘I left the snake in the cage and went down for a bit but when I returned, the cage has a hole.

'I knew the snake had escaped so I went looking inside the van. It was found inside the console by the airconditioner.'

Krairat's colleagues arrived and began pulling the snake out. Ultimately, they had to remove the air conditioner to take the creature.

Krairat added: ‘This snake was too big to handle on my own. It took us three hours to remove it from the car. It's a troublemaker snake.'

The snake was released to the forest after three more hours of rescue operation.

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.