Stefan Hug, left, with driving instructor Kevin Timmins, right, and the rescued pup (Picture: PA)
A trainee train driver managed to rescue a puppy from a busy London railway line after spotting her in the middle of his lesson.
Stefan Hug, 32, has only been learning to drive trains since January but was faced with a particularly cute challenge last week.
He was forced to stop while driving the Southern service from Beckenham Junction to London Bridge last Wednesday after spotting a small black puppy running alongside the train.
Luckily Stefan, who was with his instructor Kevin Timmins, knew exactly what to do as his training quickly ‘kicked in’.
‘I think because you talk about it so many times the procedure just kicks in and you just know you need to bring the train to a stand, take a deep breath and think logically the next thing to do,’ Stefan said.
‘Of course, that was contacting the signaller to get permission and authorisation to do anything before we step outside and try to retrieve the puppy.’
The pair managed to collect the dog and take her to safety completely unharmed.
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She was brought onto a nearby platform and fed ham, with the search for an owner ongoing.
The search for an owner is underway (Picture PA)
He halted the Southern Rail service in order to collect the puppy (Picture: Rosalind McKenzie/PA)
Stefan, from east London, even got a picture with the tiny puppy when the pair were safely on the platform.
The driver told of how the incident happened around 7.50am, as he prepared to leave South Bermondsey station.
‘That was our last stop before London Bridge,’ Stefan said. ‘Shortly before we left for South Bermondsey, I saw the puppy running on the left-hand side of our tracks.
‘I engaged the brakes and brought the train to a stop.’
Kevin said he was ‘really proud’ of his trainee’s handling of the incident.
He said: ‘Stefan alerted me that he’d seen a puppy running next to the front of the train. He immediately put it into the correct braking procedure to bring the train to a stand.
‘It was really good to see Stefan do those procedures correctly, and I’m really proud of him.’
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