News World UK: Train cancelled after two squirrels board and one 'refuses to leave'

UK: Train cancelled after two squirrels board and one 'refuses to leave'

A morning train to Gatwick Airport was cancelled after two squirrels boarded and one refused to get off - forcing passengers to move away from the "frightened and erratic" animals to another carriage, BBC reported.

Two squirrel travellers force train cancellation Image Source : AP/PIXABAYRepresentational Image

A train in Britain was cancelled after a pair of squirrels boarded the service and one refused to get off, Great Western Railway (GWR) said on Wednesday.

The disruption on Saturday forced the 08:54 (0754 GMT) service from Reading in southern England to be terminated before it could reach Gatwick Airport, its destination.

Staff tried to shoo the furry free-riders off when the train reached Redhill, Surrey, but one squirrel refused to disembark, GWR said.

Two squirrel travellers force train cancellation

"We can confirm that the 0854 Reading to Gatwick was terminated at Redhill after a couple of squirrels boarded the train at Gomshall without tickets, breaching railway bye-laws," a spokesperson for the railway said.

"We attempted to remove them at Redhill, but one refused to leave and was returned to Reading to bring an end to this nutty tail," they added.

While pets such as dogs often take trains in Britain, rodents are less frequent passengers.

There are an estimated 2.7 million grey squirrels in the UK and their population is growing, according to the Woodland Trust, a conservation charity.

(With inputs from agency)

ALSO READ: Russia train accident: 70 injured after nine bogies of passenger train overturns into river in Komi I VIDEO

Latest World News