A cat held up a train at one of Britain's busiest stations by sitting on top of a carriage and refusing to budge for more than two hours.
The feline took up a spot atop an Avanti West Coast train at Euston Station in London half an hour before it was due to leave on Tuesday evening.
The train, which reaches speeds of 125mph, was unable to get moving on its scheduled journey to Manchester as staff feared for the animal's welfare.
The train was taken out of service and replaced with another with only a slight delay - but while passengers were able to continue their journey, the cat stayed put.
Having avoided a high-speed dash up north, it remained perilously close to the 25,000 volt overhead lines which power the trains.
After two and a half hours, the cat eventually decided it wished to make a move.
A bin was brought alongside the carriages to act as a makeshift platform.
The cat was seen "swaggering off", according to station staff.
It remains unknown how the cat reached reached the top of the train, bemused railway staff said.
"We often have to deal with birds inside the station but in all my time here this is the first train surfing cat!" said Joe Hendry, Network Rail station manager for Euston.
"Thankfully curiosity didn't kill this cat and we're glad it avoided using up one of its nine lives thanks to the swift action of the station team and Avanti West Coast staff who organised for passengers to get on to a different train for the rescue to take place."
A video clip filmed by a passenger on an adjacent train shows the cat walking across the train roof before it leapt down and trotted off to safety.
The passenger, Kyle Evans, 23, said: "I was heading home when I looked out of the window and saw a cat just walking along the roof.
"I was watching it for a few minutes and laughing, if I'm honest! I was very confused at how the cat got up there - obviously you see birds up there all the time, but never a cat!
"Of course, as soon as I pulled my phone out, the cat started to disappear. My train then left just five minutes late because of the cat."
