PHIL and Angela Swaby's car engine hums like a good 'un. It whistles and sings happy birthday too.

The Huddersfield Road couple feared a hefty mechanic's bill when their 11-year-old Renault Laguna started whistling but couldn't believe it when it burst into song.

So, they were relieved when the source of the noise turned out to be a musical birthday card.

Angela, 36, said they had just dropped daughter, Laura, 17, off at Oakwell, where she works as a matchday steward, when the noises started.

She said: "The car was fine when we first set off but as we turned out of Oakwell there was a whistling, deflating noise. It was like a beach ball squeaking and going down really slowly.

"I thought there was something wrong because it was coming through the air vents."

Then the wheezing turned into a rendition of happy birthday and the couple, who are moving house, thought they were cracking up under the pressure.

Phil, 46, said: "When it started playing happy birthday I thought, 'what? Something is not right here'. We thought we were going mad especially when we could not find anything in the car."

The couple have had the vehicle six years and it has clocked up 180,000 miles. Angela said: "It's had its faults over the years but never anything like this. I was wondering how I was going to explain to a mechanic that the car was singing happy birthday."

An under-the-bonnet investigation revealed the old card which had got stuck behind a pipe.