A 16ft python was caught inside a terrified driver's pickup truck in Thailand.

Niphon Wongsa, 53, drove his green Isuzu pickup truck to the local volunteers' office when he spotted the reptile slithering inside the vehicle's engine in Samut Songkhram province on August 19.

Despite being scared of snakes, Niphon braved the eight mile drive to ask the wildlife rescuers for help.

The team lifted the truck's bonnet and found the beast coiled around the axle. They caught it after 10 minutes and released it into a forest far from residential areas.

Sthaporn Jai Dee, one of the volunteers, said: 'While we were sitting and talking at the rescue centre, a member of the public drove a car in front of the office to ask for help catching a snake from the engine compartment. We were able to find the python quickly because it was so large.'

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.