17-02-2025
Pet cat travels 17 miles by train to London on solo day trip
A pet cat travelled more than 17 miles by train on a solo trip to London.
Two-year-old Tilly caught a train from Weybridge in Surrey to London Waterloo Station all by herself – with her owners bemused when they received a call asking to collect her.
The black and white cat, a stray adopted by Michael Hardy and his partner Emma Hill, has become a local celebrity in her hometown for wandering into pubs and schools alone.
She has ridden public transport in the past and has gone on solo adventures so often that her owners decided to get her an Apple Airtag so they could track her whereabouts.
But Mr Hardy was surprised when he received a call from Waterloo staff telling him they'd found Tilly.
'She ended up getting on the train and going all the way to Waterloo,' he said.
'Luckily, I was working in London that day, but I had to drive across the city to go and collect her.
'The station staff couldn't believe it.
'She does things like this all the time. She is always in the local station. People come from everywhere now to try and find her.
'Waterloo is the furthest she has ever made it. If she manages to get on the other line she could end up in Brighton.'
Mr Hardy, who owns phone company TNBN, added: 'Nobody knows where she came from. She loves going on travels by herself. It really surprised us the first time because normally cats like to stay close to home.
'She is always at the local pub and sits behind the bar with the staff. She even takes herself down to the vets.
'She just does crazy stuff all the time. We have even had to get her Ubers home before.'
The couple say they still receive three or four calls a day from concerned locals who think Tilly might be lost.
'She starts banging on the door and miaowing, we open it and off she goes, and we don't know when we will see her again,' Mr Hardy added.
