A three-year-old boy has been reunited with his lost toy monkey after it took a 600-mile railway journey.
Kayna Tay, 43, and her son misplaced the item – which he has had since birth – while changing carriages on the first leg of a journey from Oakham, in the east Midlands, to Bristol Temple Meads on Monday.
They realised what had happened as they arrived at Birmingham New Street to change trains and reported the loss, Network Rail said.
Two customer service assistants, Leon Allen and Vinny Murphy, arranged for a search to take place and the beloved item was found after the train terminated at Edinburgh Waverley.
The monkey travelled back down to Birmingham New Street that same day. While being stored overnight at the station’s reception, staff adorned it in a tiny hand-knitted jumper previously made as a Christmas decoration, featuring a sparkly double-arrow rail logo.
On Tuesday the toy was put on a train to Bristol Temple Meads, from where Tay collected it. Network Rail said the monkey had clocked up an extra 619 miles on top of its planned trip, with journeys on CrossCountry, Avanti West Coast and Great Western Railway services.
Tay 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.”
Murphy said: “It was heartbreaking 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. 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. Monkey is back home for cuddles where he belongs.”
Network Rail did not disclose the name of the boy.
