As Denmark's queen abdicated and Frederik X became (hopefully our last) king, I was forwarding this in the family group chat with the comment "more important things are also happening in the world right now"
After a two and a half hours, the standoff came to an end when a bin was pulled up beside the carriage, giving the animal a platform on which to disembark.
The feline appeared unbothered as it alighted the train, according to station staff, who described it as “swaggering off” into the night as though it had other places to be.
I did this as a bus driver. Homeless people would fall asleep and not wake up. We weren't allowed to touch them. So I would go outside the bus and smack the window. 99% of the time the jumped up.
If you're talking about the end of the day and you need everyone off the bus, ignore this post.
However, if you're talking about regular day operation and you're trying to remove someone from the bus who is doing no harm, then you're an asshole. They have it hard enough already, leave them alone.
Genuine question: why don't they just start the train? Best case, the cat jumps off. Worst case, it dies but the train continues. Is there something else? Is the presence of the cat on the roof a safety issue?
Edit: I'm asking from the train operator's perspective. Obviously we want the cat to be safe and well, but a train company with a timetable doesn't care about that, so I wondered what's actually stopping them from just starting the train and potentially killing the cat.
No, I don't think it's acceptable. But my question wasn't about me, nor about ethics. There's no way a train operator with a timetable cares about animal well-being or any other question of ethics. I'm curious what the real reason is.
Even if killing cats for any reason, either deliberately or accidentally, is legal in the UK there are still two potential problems with starting the train: Terrible PR when the story gets out and opening your company up to potential civil litigation from the cat’s human as well as anyone else traumatised actually witnessing or contractually obliged to participate in (e.g. Driver) said death of cat. In summary, your brand takes a hit and you may lose money. As an added bonus a late train is less newsworthy in the UK than a funny cat so by delaying the train you might even generate good PR at no cost.
I just really don't think that they would care. It's easier to spin it as, “We didn't know the cat was there, what a tragedy” than to appease all the passengers who are now late and frustrated.