Tortoise who ran away four years ago found a mile away – a speed of 0.00011415525 mph

Fred was last month reunited with Georgina Rogerson after she saw an advertisement for a missing tortoise on Facebook. The Hermann breed tortoise, now 55 years old – so not without excuse for sticking in the slow lane – was bought by the family in 1973.

They certainly got their money’s worth, spending just 50p almost half a decade ago.

But they were left “gutted” when Fred went missing in the winter of 2018 after he crept under a garden fence panel, according to SWNS.

Georgina worked hard to bring her pet back home.

She said: “In 2018, we had a storm, and the back fence had blown down in the wintertime.

“There’s a watercourse that surrounds our cul de sac, and behind that, there’s a wooded area and then there’s a field as well, and then you’re onto an A-road.

“We were gutted. We searched for him and put out flyers.

“But we thought if he’d gone out that back way, he’s dead – there’s no way he could survive.”

Thankfully, they were wrong.

Local pet lover – owning both horses and dogs – Sara Ellis, 34, found Fred some months later on a busy road and took him in.

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“I can’t believe he’s come back after all these years – it’s just amazing! I’m so grateful for Sara for stopping.”

There are four main reasons tortoises hide, according to TortoiseOwner.com.

These are to take shelter, to feel safe, to hibernate and to lay eggs or nest.

The website confirms – as Fred’s owners will doubtless be relieved to learn – that “tortoises don’t hide out of spite”.

Either way, Georgina said Fred can no longer be trusted to wander about the garden alone.