The ducks walked along the tracks for two miles (Picture: SWNS)

It wasn’t strikes or severe weather that left these train commuters in a flap this morning.

A South West Trains service from Teddington was forced to crawl along behind a stubborn swan waddling on the tracks – for two miles.

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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.


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Train staff announced the delay was due to a swan waddling ahead of the train and refusing to get off the track (Picture: SWNS)

He said: ‘The train was rolling into the station at two miles per hour.

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‘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.’

Bee Whitaker, 20, a student was waiting at Kingston station for the delayed train into central London for work.

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.

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South West Trains later posted a photo of the swan being released and joked on Twitter that the animal ‘did apologise for the delays.’

A spokesman for the rail service said: ‘There was a swan on the line near Kingston for a short time. It was removed around 10.30 today. Services returned to normal shortly afterwards.’