When Kate Arkless Gray was using the London Underground whilst returning home at midnight on Saturday, she certainly didn't expect to see a fox.
The fearless canine was spotted at Walthamstow Central in East London using the escalators. It was seen walking down the down escalator, which wasn't moving. When it got to the bottom, workers shewed it back up again and when it reached the top Mrs Gray snapped some pictures of it.
Opened in 1863, the London Underground is the world's oldest and largest underground, with 270 stations and 250 miles of track.
Urban foxes are much less timid than their rural counterparts.
Now, how do I outfox the ticket inspectors? (or how an undeniably urban fox rode a Tube station escalator)
By Daily Mail Reporter
07th December 2009
Daily Mail
Scrabbling through bins and dodging the traffic doesn’t make you a real urban fox.
But catching the Tube definitely does. This city gent dashed on to the escalator at Walthamstow Central in East London at the weekend.
He got all the way down to the bottom before staff shooed him back up again.
Sly fox: Shocked commuters watched as the animal made its way up a London Underground escalator
Then, unsure what to do, he sat at the top of the escalator as his fellow travellers watched in surprise.
Kate Arkless Gray, 29, who took the photo, watched as the fox eventually trotted out of the station.
'As I got off the train I saw this daring creature dashing full speed down the down escalator, which was taped off for maintenance workers at the bottom,' she said.
'The workers at the bottom of the escalator shooed him back up again.
The London Underground is not only the world's oldest underground railway, it is also the world's largest. It's probably its huge size which has made it fairly mysterious. There are supposed to be several "ghost stations" which have been unused for many years. There is supposed to be an office block in the City of London which has a basement room where, if you open an old door behind a filing cabinet, you find yourself on a long-disused station platform, where the chocolate machines take pre-decimal money (pre-1971) and posters advertise long-forgotten films. A nest of scorpions is supposedly situated on a disused station. And, of course, this being London there is supposedly the odd ghost on the Underground. A ghost haunts Aldgate Station. According to legend, a frail, white-haired "woman" was seen stroking the neck of a worker on the tracks, seconds before he was killed in a freak accident by a misdirected train. A London Underground night shift worker was supposedly savaged to death by a pack of cat-sized rats in the tunnel connecting Covent Garden and Leicester Square stations. Not only that, but there is supposedly a small community of German (some say Swiss) dwarves who live in a network of tunnels accessed via secret lifts at Russell Square Station.
'He just paused near the top for a moment, so I scrabbled around my bag and took a couple of pictures.
'I was there for about a minute, watching other people's reactions to it.'
She added: ‘He was so casual. He left under the ticket barrier and headed toward the bus station.
‘Maybe he was trying to catch the last bus home.’
One way to Foxford Circus: Commuters watched the creature sit on an escalator at Walthamstow Central station
'We were all just stunned,' said Ms Arkless Gray. 'It's not exactly a sight that you expect to see on your way home from a Saturday night out.
'We did that London thing of just smiling at one another to acknowledge we'd each seen something interesting. You don't normally make eye contact on the underground unless something unusual is going on and this was definitely one of those times.'
Fantastic Mr Fox: Coolly contemplating his next move
She added: 'I've certainly never seen anything like it and I've lived in the area for years.
'I do hear a lot of foxes at night and occasionally see them in the street. But it would have had to go down a couple of flights of stairs to get down to that escalator. It was a great surprise to see on my way home.'
dailymail.co.uk
The fearless canine was spotted at Walthamstow Central in East London using the escalators. It was seen walking down the down escalator, which wasn't moving. When it got to the bottom, workers shewed it back up again and when it reached the top Mrs Gray snapped some pictures of it.
Opened in 1863, the London Underground is the world's oldest and largest underground, with 270 stations and 250 miles of track.
Urban foxes are much less timid than their rural counterparts.
Now, how do I outfox the ticket inspectors? (or how an undeniably urban fox rode a Tube station escalator)
By Daily Mail Reporter
07th December 2009
Daily Mail
Scrabbling through bins and dodging the traffic doesn’t make you a real urban fox.
But catching the Tube definitely does. This city gent dashed on to the escalator at Walthamstow Central in East London at the weekend.
He got all the way down to the bottom before staff shooed him back up again.
Sly fox: Shocked commuters watched as the animal made its way up a London Underground escalator
Then, unsure what to do, he sat at the top of the escalator as his fellow travellers watched in surprise.
Kate Arkless Gray, 29, who took the photo, watched as the fox eventually trotted out of the station.
'As I got off the train I saw this daring creature dashing full speed down the down escalator, which was taped off for maintenance workers at the bottom,' she said.
'The workers at the bottom of the escalator shooed him back up again.
The London Underground is not only the world's oldest underground railway, it is also the world's largest. It's probably its huge size which has made it fairly mysterious. There are supposed to be several "ghost stations" which have been unused for many years. There is supposed to be an office block in the City of London which has a basement room where, if you open an old door behind a filing cabinet, you find yourself on a long-disused station platform, where the chocolate machines take pre-decimal money (pre-1971) and posters advertise long-forgotten films. A nest of scorpions is supposedly situated on a disused station. And, of course, this being London there is supposedly the odd ghost on the Underground. A ghost haunts Aldgate Station. According to legend, a frail, white-haired "woman" was seen stroking the neck of a worker on the tracks, seconds before he was killed in a freak accident by a misdirected train. A London Underground night shift worker was supposedly savaged to death by a pack of cat-sized rats in the tunnel connecting Covent Garden and Leicester Square stations. Not only that, but there is supposedly a small community of German (some say Swiss) dwarves who live in a network of tunnels accessed via secret lifts at Russell Square Station.
'He just paused near the top for a moment, so I scrabbled around my bag and took a couple of pictures.
'I was there for about a minute, watching other people's reactions to it.'
She added: ‘He was so casual. He left under the ticket barrier and headed toward the bus station.
‘Maybe he was trying to catch the last bus home.’
One way to Foxford Circus: Commuters watched the creature sit on an escalator at Walthamstow Central station
'We were all just stunned,' said Ms Arkless Gray. 'It's not exactly a sight that you expect to see on your way home from a Saturday night out.
'We did that London thing of just smiling at one another to acknowledge we'd each seen something interesting. You don't normally make eye contact on the underground unless something unusual is going on and this was definitely one of those times.'
Fantastic Mr Fox: Coolly contemplating his next move
She added: 'I've certainly never seen anything like it and I've lived in the area for years.
'I do hear a lot of foxes at night and occasionally see them in the street. But it would have had to go down a couple of flights of stairs to get down to that escalator. It was a great surprise to see on my way home.'
dailymail.co.uk
Last edited: