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Your coil’s all right but you’ve got a bit too much bite on your clutch...

A couple had an unusual break down when they visited the Kruger National Park in South Africa looking for lions.

As they stopped at one point, a 16ft rock python slithered out of the grass and under their Renault car.

When it did not reappear, Marlene Swart and Leon Swanepoel plucked up the courage to open the bonnet – to find it lying there without a care in the world.

(Image: Caters)

Ms Swart, 38, and Mr Swanepoel, 51, from Brits in South Africa’s North West province, endured a nervous three-mile journey to the next lookout station where their deadly female passenger could be enticed out.

Ms Swart said: “It was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was totally in shock and terrified.”

She added: “It eventually sailed away unharmed.

"Later that evening we had a good chuckle about the reactions of the bystanders when it exited the vehicle.”