'Shepley lion' train delay gets 'tweet of the year' nom

PASSENGERS were prevented from alighting at the West Yorkshire village of Shepley on Sunday afternoon after reports of a lion and cub on the tracks. The incident elicited a Twitter update from National Rail Enquiries which is now being described as the "tweet of the year".

At around 4:52pm yesterday, the train from Retford to Hudddersfield stopped in Shepley, a village in West Yorkshire, according to BBC News. Passengers were allowed onto the train, but those on board were told not to get off.

An hour earlier, police had received two unconfirmed warnings about "a lion and or lion cub" from members of the public. Twelve officers and a police helicopter joined the search for the big cats, but found nothing.

National Rail Enquiries tweeted: "Passengers are currently unable to alight from trains at Shepley due to reports by police of a lion in the area."

The understated update proved a hit on Twitter, and provoked the usual flurry of quips, including one from the comic Viz: "Shepley station reopens after lion scare. Mane line services are unaffected."

Despite claims in some papers that passengers were stuck on the train at Shepley for two hours, a spokesman for the train service provider, Northern Rail, denied there were any delays.

The 'Shepley lion tweet' is now being hailed as "the frontrunner for tweet of the year" by The Guardian, which describes it as "a work of art" evoking "previous great British creations" such as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. ·