Missing cat reappears after catching train home

A cat who went missing caused astonishment when he turned up at a railway station two weeks later after apparently catching a train home.

Mystery surrounds what happened to 13-year-old Charlie after he was spotted disembarking a train at Accrington rail station a fortnight after his disappearance.

It’s believed he must have boarded a train at Colne - seven stops away - at the beginning of the line as this would have been the only time the doors are left open.

Andy Richards, who runs the East Lancashire Cats shop on Blackburn Road, Accrington and helps stray cats in the area, was contacted by a friend who spotted Charlie.

Andy said: “I’ve never in my life known anything like this.

“I was at the shop as normal on Monday when one of my friends called to tell me a cat had just gotten off the train and was sat on the platform.

“We couldn’t just leave him there on the side of the train platform so I went up with a cat carrier and picked him up and took him back.

“The railway guard said he’d never seen anything like it.”

Andy said he took Charlie back to the shop on Burnley Road and scanned him to see if he had a microchip.

He said: “I didn’t think he would have one as most strays don’t and you’re working in the dark a bit but I was amazed to find that he did, he was a very friendly cat.

“I managed to get the details for a name and phone number in Warrington but when I tried it it was disconnected.

“I put a post up on Facebook hoping someone would recognise him, and my friend Jo White from Paws and Claws rescue said ‘that’s Charlie’.

“He had been rehomed from Warrington to Accrington. It looks like he had been off on an adventure, like he went on holiday for two weeks.

“There are seven stops between Colne and Accrington, how did he know which one to get off at? That to me is the most amazing part of the whole story.

“We’re just relieved he wasn’t prosecuted for travelling without a ticket.”Andy said Charlie has now been reunited with his owner.

He said: “They were very relieved to get him back.

“It’s not that often that owners are reunited with their pets after they have been missing for two weeks.”