Forget nine lives, one cat appears to have used up a couple of hundred after becoming trapped in the London Underground.

The animal, called Blitz, spent seven hours cowering on the tracks in a tunnel as more than 250 trains passed over his head.

Despite suffering a broken back after being struck by one, he was eventually rescued when Transport for London staff realised there was an unusual trespasser on the line.

“To survive almost seven hours in a tunnel lying on the track and have some 250 trains go over it is nothing short of a miracle,” said Dave Keenan, a customer service manager with TfL.

It is believed Blitz found itself in the perilous situation after squeezing past the ticket barriers at Tufnell Park tube station and making his way down the escalator without being spotted.

Gallery: 150 years of London underground Show all 27 1 /27 Gallery: 150 years of London underground Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube8.jpg Passengers on the London Underground in 1955 PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground Untitled-1.jpg The London Tube is celebrating its 150th anniversary Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube18.jpg World War II, 25th, September, 1940, Members of the public huddle together in a London underground station Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube17.jpg Queen Elizabeth II travels on a tube train after the official opening ceremony of London Underground's Victoria Line in 1969 Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube5.jpg A London Transport official showing the Prince of Wales the controls in the driver's car of a Jubilee Line train in 1979 PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube12.jpg Emergency services at Chancery Lane Underground Station in London after a tube train derailed in 2003 PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube1.jpg In this file picture taken on September 4, 2007 passengers jostle to enter the Underground station at Waterloo Station in central London, as commuters battled with severe transport disruption to get to work as unions staged a second day of strikes on the capital's underground system AFP Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube14.jpg Mayor of London Boris Johnson at the opening of the ticket hall at King's Cross St Pancras Station PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube3.jpg Londoners take shelter in the London Underground during the Blitz PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube4.jpg David Cameron travelling by tube on the Underground to the O2 Arena in London PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube9.jpg Lord Ashfield handing over the silver key to Col. Moore Brabazon during the opening of the Northern line, London in 1926 PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube13.jpg Two 'buskers' entertain travellers by playing musical instruments on the London Underground in central London AFP Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube2.jpg London resident Jean Farrow, 36, one of the first directly recruited female drivers sitting at the front of a tube train at Hammersmith station PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube7.jpg An underground train heads into Central London on the Piccadilly Line on day of winter AFP Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube11.jpg Torchbearer and London Underground employee John Light carrying the Olympic Flame onto an underground train at Wimbledon Station, London PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube10.jpg The fire-damaged escalators at King's Cross underground station in London in 1987 PA Gallery: 150 years of London underground tube19.jpg London Underground workers building the Piccadilly Line extension at Turnpike Lane in 1930 Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 141007280.jpg Marble Arch Tube Station Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 141007351.jpg A commuter at Westminster Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 141007639.jpg Victorian tile signs have been updated with more modern ones in some stations Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 143711297.jpg London Mayor Boris Johnson travelling on the Tube Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 149562350.jpg Bank station during the London 2012 Olympics GettyImages Gallery: 150 years of London underground 155708342.jpg Oyster cards were introduced on the Tube in 2003 Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 155708347.jpg The entrance to Westminster Underground with Big Ben in the background Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 158719828 (1).jpg Shoppers keen to catch the Boxing Day sale queue outside Bond Street for the Tube station to open early AM Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 140839627.jpg The Tube's famously dirt-covering patterned seat fabric Getty Images Gallery: 150 years of London underground 140839693.jpg A woman at Oxford Circus station Getty Images

He stayed there for seven hours until a member of staff spotted there was something lying between the positive rail and running rail.

Trains were then held up for five minutes while a rescue was performed.

After that, staff were able to locate Blitz’s owner, Mark Piggott, because he was chipped.

Writing on Twitter after being reunited with his pet, Mr Piggott said: “How the f*** did my cat make his way down onto the track at Tufnell Park tube, get hit by a train, have 300 other trains go over the top of him, cause the line to be suspended so they could rescue him after seven hours and live?”