Driver's horror as huge huntsman spider emerges from car hiding place mid-journey

This is the hair-raising moment one of the world's largest spiders emerges from its hiding place to surprise a driver at the worst possible time.

Nath Jennings from Melbourne, Australia, said his girlfriend, Millie, had known for months that there was a huntsman spider in her car, but couldn't figure out where.

Unfortunately the arachnid, one of the largest species of spider on Earth, waited until the car was hurtling down the road to show itself.

Nath, who recorded the encounter, said: "We actually noticed a spider in the car a few months before this happened, but could never find where it went.

The spider emerged to crawl across her windscreen mid-drive (Credit: Nath Jennings/Pen News)

Nath Jennings said his girlfriend had known for months there was a spider living in the car (Credit: Nath Jennings/Pen News)

"So, this spider has been living in this car.

"It finally made its way to the front seat at the worst time."

In Nath's footage, the creature lurks in the top corner of the windscreen on the driver's side.

As he zooms in, its jaws can be seen catching the light.

"Don't," warns Millie, "it will jump at you Nathan".

Nath, 24, said: "She was definitely shocked but, as I mentioned, she knew it was somewhere in the car at all times which is creepy when you think of it.

"I honestly was quite scared - we just didn't want it to drop off the windshield onto the driver or passengers and potentially cause a commotion, which could obviously lead to more severe issues."

Nath was driving with his girlfriend when the pair noticed the huntsman emerge from the workings of the car (Credit: Nath Jennings/Pen News)

Mercifully, the drive was short and - though the huntsman did start to move - it didn't drop on to Millie, Nath or their mates Jamie and Keith.

"It did nothing to harm us, just crawled up and down the windscreen," said Nath.

"It started on the driver side and made its way above me in the passenger seat. I did not enjoy it.

"The drive to the chicken shop was only about six minutes. I jumped out the car as soon as we parked and kept my distance.

"Keith had to remove the spider."

Huntsman spiders are found across the breadth of Australia.

And though they are venomous, packing a bite that can be painful to humans, they are generally not considered dangerous.

Nath said: "Honestly, spiders in Australia are pretty common but I haven't seen one that big and that close just lurking in our car!"