A large python battled with mechanics in a fierce tug-of-war as it refused to leave a driver's pickup truck.

The serpent was discovered slithering inside the grey Isuzu's engine when the workers lifted up the bonnet at a car service centre in Bangkok, Thailand on June 22.

But the snake - estimated to be 9ft-long - went deeper into the pickup truck until it reached deep inside the wheelhouse.

Footage shows at least four mechanics helping each other extract the python using a catching pole with a noose.

One of the workers in the video, Thirawat Chaisorn, said: ‘The snake was too slippery. It was lying in the engine room when we found it and suddenly it's gone to the wheelhouse.'

The snake was extracted from the truck unhurt and turned over to local wildlife officials before being released.