Scorpion halts Edinburgh-bound train
A passenger train was stopped after the discovery of a live scorpion.
A passenger train travelling from London to Edinburgh had to be halted by police following the discovery of a live scorpion.
According to BBC News, the train was stopped at Peterborough at approximately 3pm on New Year’s day, after the arachnid scuttled its way out of a passenger’s bag.
Thankfully, British Transport Police officers were on hand to help, scooping the scorpion into an empty plastic tub and transporting it to a local exotics refuge.
“Happy to confirm we attended and quickly took the sting out of the situation!” they later tweeted.
Staff at the Exotic Pet Refuge in Deeping St James told BBC News that identifying the species of the scorpion might be difficult.
"I was told the woman whose bag it came out of had recently come back from Guatemala - and there are 100 different kinds of scorpion there," explained refuge centre owner Pam Mansfield.
"It's only small - about three-quarters of an inch - and it's jet black with very fine little pincers.
"Usually, the smaller they are, the deadlier they are - so it could be quite a nasty piece of work. But we'll treat it with care."
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
