Passengers left shell-shocked after crab pinches train seat

Passengers on a train have been left shell-shocked after a crab snapped up a seat.

The claw-ver commuter – later named Craig – was found on Wednesday evening on a South Western Railway service from London to Portsmouth, with fellow passengers joking it had come down for a night out from the Big Smoke.

Train driver Mark Walsh said he thought a colleague was “winding him up” when they told him a crab was sitting in first class.

But he told the BBC when the express service reached its final stop “sure enough” he found the crustacean “chilling” on a seat.

Mr Walsh said he initially wondered “how the hell” it had claw-ed its way on the train or if anyone had even noticed the stowaway, though one passenger told him it had been sitting there since she got on at Guildford.

“Some people were quite concerned because I was walking around the station with a crab in my hand, but most people didn’t bat an eyelid,” Mr Walsh said.

“They must have just thought another day in Pompey.”

He added passengers jokingly pointed out the “shellfish” crab had its feet on the seat, while others called out the crabby commuter for fare dodging.

Mr Walsh, who described himself as a “dabhand at handling crabs” after taking his kids crabbing on their holidays, said he gave the creature “a little stroke” and could see it was still moving.

But he added it did not look very well.

“Obviously he was very exhausted from his journey,” Mr Walsh told the BBC.

He said he was “very limited” on what he could do as it was very busy and he had to drive a train back to London in 15 minutes.

“I could not delay the train indefinitely while I played international rescue for a crab,” Mr Walsh joked.

He told the BBC he made it as comfortable as he could in a nearby park with a pond.

“I don’t know if it fell out of a fisherman’s bag or it could be some young people having a laugh, but what I can’t understand is that it came from London.”