NO expense was spared when George the 22-year-old parakeet was rescued from Spanish authorities after being trapped in the country by Eurocratic red tape.

A Taunton legal assistant drove the yellow bellied Senegalese parakeet, an endangered species, from Alicante in southern Spain to his English home, at the request of his later owner's family, after he had been stuck in quarantine building for 14 months.

And Edmund Bailhace, of Fox and Co, pictured, even learnt the Spanish lingo so he could converse with his green and orange feather companion during the 1,500 mile journey, which took place in the week of January 3, 1992.

The extraordinary tale began when the parakeet's late owner, Arthur Samways, from Trull, returned to England in October 1990 after living in Spain with his animals.

He died in June 1991, before he could see the parakeet, named George, back on his perch. So his dedicated family enlisted the help of Mr Bailhace to try to fill Mr Samways' dying wish to get George back home.

Mr Bailhace said: "Mr Samways has no problem getting his three cats and his dog back into the country, but George was a real problem. There was quite a volume of paperwork involved. I had to get an import licence and a certificate of endangered species which had to be stamped by the Spanish authorities."

Upon his return, George went to live with Margaret Paynter, of Crewkerne, Mr Samways' sister.