Railway workers have reunited a toy monkey with its three-year-old owner after it travelled over six hundred miles by rail.
On Monday (20 November), Kayna Tay and her son were returning home to Bristol by rail after visiting his grandparents in Rutland for the weekend. While travelling from Oakham to Birmingham New Street, the family had to move carriages, and in doing so, the toddler misplaced his dinosaur rucksack, which contained the toy.
The little boy was very upset when he realised when changing trains at Birmingham New Street that he had lost ‘Monkey', the toy he had since he was born.
Kayna, 43, went to Network Rail's Birmingham New Street station reception, and customer service assistants Leon Allen and Vinny Murphy set about locating the missing primate. By this time, though, Monkey was en route to Newcastle, so the pair contacted the train manager, who searched under the seats but could not find it.
When Monkey's CrossCountry train reached its destination, Edinburgh, the toy was found and handed to lost property. By now, it was 384 miles from home in Bristol.
Back at Birmingham New Street, Vinny and Leon arranged for Monkey to travel back from Scotland to Birmingham, looked after by Avanti West Coast staff. Meanwhile, staff spotted a tiny, hand-knitted jumper with a Network Rail logo that had previously been made as a Christmas decoration, and decided that it was a fitting memento of Monkey's adventure.
So yesterday (Tuesday) morning, wearing the Christmas jumper, Monkey travelled on a CrossCountry train to Bristol Temple Meads station, where a very relieved Kayna collected it from Great Western Railway (GWR) staff at lunchtime.
Workers from four different companies had been involved in rescuing the toy, and Monkey had travelled 619 rail miles further than the family's planned 155-mile trip home from Leicestershire to the Bristol.
For more information on what to do if you lose an item on a train, contact your train operator.
Kayna said: “My little boy was inconsolable when we realised we'd lost Monkey on the train and we arrived at Birmingham New Street. But the treatment we received from the customer services team there, who mounted a miracle mission to find the monkey again, was above and beyond what I could have expected.
“I can't thank everyone involved enough, across all the train companies, for not only making my little boy smile again, but he loves monkey's new jumper and is full of questions, fascinated by the adventure he's been on!”
Vinny Murphy, Birmingham New Street customer services assistant, said: “It was heart-breaking to see Kayna's little lad so upset that he'd left his best friend on the train, so it was the least we could do to get straight on the phone to try and track him down.
“We couldn't have done this without the efforts of all the train crews scouring under seats to find him. Spotting a tiny Christmas jumper in our station reception for him to wear was then the icing on the cake! We're so pleased we could have helped and Monkey is back home for cuddles where he belongs – in gladrags fit for the festive season.”
Elizabeth Jackson, CrossCountry interim regional customer service manager, said: “Thankfully it's not every day we have to take teddies on our trains, but it was a pleasure to help get Monkey safely back home to Bristol. It's been wonderful to work together with colleagues from across the industry to get this very cheeky monkey home safe and sound.”
Philippa Cresswell, Avanti West Coast executive director on board, said: “It was brilliant to see the railway family coming together to reunite Monkey with his family and get him safely back into the arms of Kayna after his very eventful journey. We were glad to play our part and the collective effort definitely deserves a round of ape-lause!”
A spokesperson for GWR said: “We at GWR have a long history of looking after long-lost bears, and reuniting cuddly toys seeking greater adventure with their worried owners.
“Our approachable and friendly staff are always on hand to help, and we are delighted we have been able to do so on this occasion.”
