Swan on railway tracks disrupts services

Not too dissimilar to a scene from the film Hot Fuzz, a swan has been causing disruption for train passengers across eastern England after it found its way on to a railway line.

London Liverpool Street services to and from Ipswich, Norwich, Colchester, Clacton and Southend were delayed as the regal bird wandered the tracks at Harold Wood in east London.

Greater Anglia posted about the disruption at 10:45 BST and a response team was sent to retrieve the mute swan and take it to safety.

Services returned to normal at about 11:30. A spokesperson for the train company said: "Greater Anglia and Network Rail are sorry if your journey has been affected by this disruption."

The latest incident involving a swan comes a year after one landed on the tracks at Ipswich railway station.

Peter Hazelwood, who was on a train from the station that day, managed to snap a photo of the swan and described the situation as "comedy gold".

"I thought how easy it would be to hop down on to the tracks and pick up the thing, but they closed the station until it was cleared. They had to wait for 20 minutes," he said.

"A big guy with gloves came and carried it off down the platform and then I waited for about an hour and then got a later train."

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