LONDON: Commuters at a South West Trains service from Teddington braved an unusual reason of train delay – a stubborn swan that refused to get off the track.
Footage shows the swan sauntering with the train just a metre behind, following the bird extremely slowly as it pulled into Kingston upon Thames station.
Dan Billinghurst, 23, who filmed the video, rushed to the station to catch the 9.33am train when he saw the swan was leading the way.
He said: ‘The train was rolling into the station at two miles per hour.
@SW_Trains I applaud your driver and staff for being courteous to the swan and sensible in all your actions 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/8oBIK37kGp
— Gopal Krishnan V. (@gopsinlondon) January 13, 2017
‘People commuting to work were getting frustrated and one man was so annoyed he got on the tracks waving his laptop in one hand and tried to manhandle the bird.
‘It was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen.’
The #Kingston Swan has been released happy and well. It did apologise for the delays while with our staff. -JS pic.twitter.com/DJ5uGkySnh
— South West Trains (@SW_Trains) January 13, 2017
People were irritated by the delay but then when they saw what it was everyone was asking each other about it and laughing as well as taking photos,’ she said.
South West Trains later posted a photo of the swan being released and joked on Twitter that the animal ‘did apologise for the delays.’
