Six-year-old reunited with toy octopus after it fell on to train tracks

A six-year-old boy has been reunited with his toy octopus after it fell on to train tracks, thanks to the kindness of a stranger and a Facebook group.

Raffi Kier got the toy, called Tenny, for his fourth birthday. He has taken him on holiday and sleeps with him every night.

“He goes everywhere with him,” Raffi’s mother Amy Kier, who lives in south-east London, told the PA news agency.

Tenny in the sink (Andrew Elliott/PA)

She said he was originally called Tenty because of his tentacles, but Raffi changed it so that his younger brother, Oscar, three, could pronounce it.

On January 4 Raffi was left in tears when he was separated from his beloved toy.

“I was going to my mum’s house so I could drop the kids off and come back and work and I was going from West Ham to Essex, where my mum lives,” Ms Kier said.

“Both my sons have octopuses and I put them underneath the pram, and as I went to get on the train, the octopus fell on the train tracks (on the C2C at West Ham station).

“I contemplated getting it, but the tracks are electrified, and my son spent the whole journey crying about his octopus.”

Tenny fell on the tracks on January 4 (Andrew Elliott/PA)

She said that when she got on the train, she contacted Transport for London to say the toy was lost, and told Raffi: “It will come back at some point hopefully,” but thinking it would never come back.

Thanks to the actions of a stranger, the little boy was reunited with Tenny on Monday, after the toy was sent back to the family.

Customer services agent Andrew Elliott, 24, said he found the toy at about 11.30am on the day it was left on the tracks, but had to go back later to rescue it as he had to go to work.

Mr Elliott, who is based in Upminster, east London, told PA: “There was a man on the platform sitting in a little box, and I knocked on the glass very sheepishly and asked if he would be able to help me get the toy.

Tenny after being cleaned (Andrew Elliott/PA)

“I gave him my name and my phone number and he said we’ll have to call a specialist and they’ll call when it is ready to be collected, but he hinted that I should not hold out too much hope.”

About six hours later Mr Elliott got a phone call, saying: “I’ve got your octopus – it’s very wet and it’s very dirty, do you want to come and get it?”

After collecting the octopus, he and his mother disinfected, washed and dried it – making sure to thoroughly clean the tentacles.

The aim of the mission was to try to reunite the toy with its owner, so Mr Elliott took to social media platforms including Reddit and a C2C group on Facebook to help with his quest.

Tenny being returned to Raffi (Amy Kier/PA)

It was Ms Kier’s brother who came across the C2C post and put her and Mr Elliott in touch.

“I could not believe it,” Ms Kier said.

“(Raffi’s) asked if I could put all the pictures of Tenny’s journey all over his bedroom.

“I think it teaches Raffi a really nice lesson about the kindness of other people’s actions as someone has really looked after something he cares about.”

Tenny drying out (Andrew Elliott/PA)

She said when she told Raffi the story about his toy being rescued and cleaned, he “started getting all his teddies and really looking after them”.

Mr Elliott even sent a handwritten note “from Tenny”, saying how much he missed his owner.

He added: “It is incredibly lucky that I found the owner – it was really surreal.

“I really didn’t expect it to balloon into what it did on social media.

“Even now my phone goes crazy with comments and people liking the post.”