A couple are calling for answers from an animal cruelty charity, claiming that a cat hit by a car was left to suffer a prolonged death by the side of the road.

Gay Newton and her husband Keith were outside their home in Beaver Road, when a black 4x4 vehicle drove past.

The pair say they heard “an almighty thud” when the vehicle struck another parked car, and then drove off.

Upon investigation, they found that a cat had been hit in the crash, and although alive, had suffered serious injuries.

Mrs Newton called the RSPCA, who she claims reluctantly agreed to send out a vet to put the animal out of its suffering, but that after waiting for another 90 minutes, there was still no sign of them.

Mrs Newton said: “I’m so disgusted with the RSPCA for allowing this suffering to go on.

“They are always asking for money and for help, but I think it’s slightly hypocritical for the RSPCA to say they are a caring organisation who are against animal cruelty, when they can leave an animal to suffer like that.

“The car behind the one that crashed stopped afterwards, and a man and his wife got out. There was blood everywhere, so much so that I had to get a watering can out to wash it all away.

“The man was stroking the cat for over an hour, trying to calm it and put it at ease, until it eventually died.”

“It absolutely broke my heart, and my husband and I had to have a stiff drink afterwards, and the poor owner is probably still looking for their pet.”

A spokesman for the RSPCA said they received a call at 22:22 on Friday, April 19.

They added: “We received a call about this poor cat, and our control centre called the lady back and told her that we would try to get a vet out. Our controller then rang three different local vets but none were willing to attend.

“At 22.45, while the controller was still ringing vets, we were advised that sadly the cat had died.

“We always try our very best to get to animals in need as quickly as we can. Last year alone we received more than a million calls to our cruelty hotline so our resources are always stretched.”