This could well be Britain's luckiest cat - a ginger stray who has survived despite being impaled on three fence posts.

A passer-by found the helpless animal impaled on 8ft railings at 3.50am last Friday in Cricklewood, north west London.

He phoned the RSPCA for help and deputy chief inspector Nicole Broster was first to arrive.

The London Fire Brigade cut the metal fence posts before the cat, nicknamed Angus, was taken to a local veterinary practice for urgent surgery, saving his life.

The railings narrowly missed its vital organs, but the cat underwent emergency surgery at a vets in Hendon, north London, and is now recovering at the RSPCA's Harmsworth Animal Hospital.