Frankie the Jack Russell, who made a surpirise journey to London, with his family Stephanie Abbott, 22, Jane Abbott and James Jeeves, 14

by Alan Watkins

If cats can go to London to visit the Queen, why shouldn't terriers pop into town to have a gander?

It's exactly how an adventurous Gravesend Jack Russell celebrated his sixth birthday this week.

It wasn't exactly Buckingham Palace - and certainly not Hollywood - but Frankie definitely went in style.

It all started when his master left for work at 5am on Monday and Frankie got the travel bug.

By the time his mistress got up at their home in Porchfield Close, Gravesend, he was gone.

"I normally get greeted by Frankie when I get up, but not this morning," said 47-year-old Jane Abbott.

"I looked all over the house and in the garden but there was no sign of him."

That was when she started scouting around the neighbourhood on foot.

With still no sign of him, Ms Abbott was getting really worried and hurried back to the house to get her car to search for him.

There she got a telephone call from a rail man to ask if she would like to collect her dog.

But Frankie was not in Gravesend station - the dog had found his way onto the 6.56am Maidstone West to St Pancras service. A bright blue, snazzy high-speed train had taken his fancy.

Station staff saw him wandering around before the train arrived and passengers saw him on board, but no one reacted when the train manager, Richard Cheeseman, tannoyed to ask if anyone had lost a dog.

For 18 minutes, Frankie enjoyed a life of luxury in the manager's office on the train, being pampered by Richard and an Underground employee, James Daniels.

As the train hurtled into London, Richard rang Jane to say the dog was safe. The men had found her number on Frankie’s dogtag.

It cost Jane and 22-year-old daughter Stephanie £59 to buy high-speed rush-hour tickets, and as they arrived there was James and the errant hound.

"I was distraught – and he went for free!" said Jane. "I would love to see the CCTV footage of that trip – it would be a YouTube sensation."

What they don’t understand is why Frankie chose rail.

"He’s never been on a train before," said Jane shortly after getting home at 10am.

Frankie will now be on a short leash – especially when the garage door is opened in the early hours.