Cat makes six mile journey after boarding train from Buxton to Whaley Bridge

A cat who decided to make a great escape is safely back at home - after hopping on a train with commuters.

Lenny is know for spending time at train stations around High Peak and enjoys pets from workers before they leave for the office.

But the seven-year-old cat has only ever roamed the stations and returns home when he is done - until he decided to boarding a train on 10 November.

The cat left home, wandered to a station on the Buxton line connecting High Peak's commuters with Manchester, and boarded a train heading for Piccadilly.

His owners James and Laura Stockton were none the wiser, until business developer Laura spotted a post on a local Facebook group.

Alongside a photo of Lenny standing on one of the table seats, it read: “This cat is riding the train between Buxton and Whaley Bridge.”

The post amassed more than 3,000 likes, 340 comments and was shared hundreds of times – thankfully catching the attention of mum-of-one Laura.

Instantly recognising Lenny from the picture, Laura frantically called James and the pair quickly thought of a plan of how to retrieve him.

“The post on Facebook got shared a lot so we were contacted by loads of people that recognised him and knew he belonged to us,” James said.

“He’s clearly got a lot of friends.

“I checked his AirTag tracker and could see he was around five miles away.

“I was working from home and had no car so asked my neighbour for a lift to Whaley Bridge armed with a box of Dreamies cat treats and a cat carrier.”

Fortunately, James knew people living near to the station who were able to spot him on the platform.

"They managed to call Lenny over, pick him up and bring him to safety.

“By the time I arrived, he’d been caught,” bank worker James added. “I took him home and gave him a stern talking to.

“Lenny is well-known to all the commuters and regularly spends time fussing them all as they get on and off the train.

“He likes to wander a bit and has been spotted well over a mile from home before.

"He’s super friendly and approaches pretty much anyone for a fuss – apart from anyone with a dog.

“From the Facebook post to getting him back home was only about 50 minutes. We were incredibly lucky. He could have easily ended up at Piccadilly.”