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Video: Cyclist saves Kingston commuters from swans

Two swans held up traffic on Kingston Bridge on Friday morning - fortunately a cyclist was on hand to save the day

A cyclist saved the commutes of several drivers in Kingston on Friday after he shepherded two lost swans to safety on Kingston Bridge in London.

The footage, which can be found on Gary Chatwood's Facebook page, shows a queue of traffic lined up on the bridge in South West London behind two swans.

The swans don't appear to be particularly deterred by the presence of the cars bearing down upon them as they saunter across the road.

Hounslow police officer Chatwood is undoubtedly used to ushering disruptive road users off the road, though, and it showed.

>Watch more: Pro cyclist goes out training with pet parrot

The 36-year old was cycling in the opposite direction to the hold-up, but stopped his commute to try and persuade the birds to clear off.

At one point Chatwood can be heard telling the swans "some of us have work to go to, you know."

>Watch more: Cyclists chased by an ostrich

Mr Chatwood told a reporter at the Surrey Comet how concerned he was for the birds' safety.

“I’m very surprised. I was worried to start with because I could see that they were already crossing," He said. 

“I decided to just shield them a little. I was trying to keep them on the outside lane to get them off.

“They refused to get up over the kerb. I just saw them crossing the road and thought they’d get scared.”

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10 comments

Avatar
FMOAB | 7 years ago
2 likes

Love to see you fitting their safety gear to them.  Please video it.

Avatar
Alessandro | 7 years ago
9 likes

Swans should NOT be allowed anywhere near the road without hi-viz, lights and a helmet. Heck, mother nature has already built them a dedicated swimming lane that goes all the way from Kingston to the middle of London - why aren't they using that? Tax the pests and make them sit a proficiency test. 

Avatar
Valbrona | 7 years ago
3 likes

Should the title not read 'Cyclist saves swans from Kingston commuters'?

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to Valbrona | 7 years ago
4 likes

Valbrona wrote:

Should the title not read 'Cyclist saves swans from Kingston commuters'?

break your arm with one flap of the wing, swans can. Soon as look at you. They're always at it. Swaggering around intimidating people in trucks, quacking out of the side of their beaks, smoking roll-ups. The hard men of Duck World they are. Need some enforcing down the local pond? Don't ask one of them grebes, bloody useless. Get yourself a couple of swans. They've got ambition, know-how. They don't lose their bottle. 

Avatar
Leviathan replied to ConcordeCX | 7 years ago
1 like

ConcordeCX wrote:

Valbrona wrote:

Should the title not read 'Cyclist saves swans from Kingston commuters'?

break your arm with one flap of the wing, swans can. Soon as look at you. They're always at it. Swaggering around intimidating people in trucks, quacking out of the side of their beaks, smoking roll-ups. The hard men of Duck World they are. Need some enforcing down the local pond? Don't ask one of them grebes, bloody useless. Get yourself a couple of swans. They've got ambition, know-how. They don't lose their bottle. 

Bit of a myth that one. If in doubt you could easily kick it. These gents just looked like they were on the way back from a night out and needed a bit of persuasion to go home.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to Leviathan | 7 years ago
4 likes

Leviathan wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

Valbrona wrote:

Should the title not read 'Cyclist saves swans from Kingston commuters'?

break your arm with one flap of the wing, swans can. Soon as look at you. They're always at it. Swaggering around intimidating people in trucks, quacking out of the side of their beaks, smoking roll-ups. The hard men of Duck World they are. Need some enforcing down the local pond? Don't ask one of them grebes, bloody useless. Get yourself a couple of swans. They've got ambition, know-how. They don't lose their bottle. 

Bit of a myth that one. If in doubt you could easily kick it. These gents just looked like they were on the way back from a night out and needed a bit of persuasion to go home.

that's what they want you to believe. I bet they've spent the night breaking arms with one flap of the wing. Ask at Kingston hospital, they'll tell you.

There are even ninja swans, making a compkete mess of inductive reasoning.

http://barbsfavorites.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/057.jpg

 

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to ConcordeCX | 7 years ago
0 likes

ConcordeCX wrote:

Leviathan wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

Valbrona wrote:

Should the title not read 'Cyclist saves swans from Kingston commuters'?

break your arm with one flap of the wing, swans can. Soon as look at you. They're always at it. Swaggering around intimidating people in trucks, quacking out of the side of their beaks, smoking roll-ups. The hard men of Duck World they are. Need some enforcing down the local pond? Don't ask one of them grebes, bloody useless. Get yourself a couple of swans. They've got ambition, know-how. They don't lose their bottle. 

Bit of a myth that one. If in doubt you could easily kick it. These gents just looked like they were on the way back from a night out and needed a bit of persuasion to go home.

that's what they want you to believe. I bet they've spent the night breaking arms with one flap of the wing. Ask at Kingston hospital, they'll tell you.

There are even ninja swans, making a compkete mess of inductive reasoning.

http://barbsfavorites.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/057.jpg

 

 

I don't think even a ninja swan could break your arm with its wing, not without causing serious injury to itelf. The bones in a swan's wing are a lot thinner and lighter than the bones in your arm and they wouldn't be able to fly very well otherwise. That said, I've seen swans attacking people as they can be very aggressive and could cause some nasty injuries by pecking at you.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to OldRidgeback | 7 years ago
1 like

OldRidgeback wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

Leviathan wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

Valbrona wrote:

Should the title not read 'Cyclist saves swans from Kingston commuters'?

break your arm with one flap of the wing, swans can. Soon as look at you. They're always at it. Swaggering around intimidating people in trucks, quacking out of the side of their beaks, smoking roll-ups. The hard men of Duck World they are. Need some enforcing down the local pond? Don't ask one of them grebes, bloody useless. Get yourself a couple of swans. They've got ambition, know-how. They don't lose their bottle. 

Bit of a myth that one. If in doubt you could easily kick it. These gents just looked like they were on the way back from a night out and needed a bit of persuasion to go home.

that's what they want you to believe. I bet they've spent the night breaking arms with one flap of the wing. Ask at Kingston hospital, they'll tell you.

There are even ninja swans, making a compkete mess of inductive reasoning.

http://barbsfavorites.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/057.jpg

 

 

I don't think even a ninja swan could break your arm with its wing, not without causing serious injury to itelf. The bones in a swan's wing are a lot thinner and lighter than the bones in your arm and they wouldn't be able to fly very well otherwise. That said, I've seen swans attacking people as they can be very aggressive and could cause some nasty injuries by pecking at you.

ninja swans use nunchuks.

Avatar
Redvee | 7 years ago
1 like

There's a pair I see most days on my way to work, usually they are in the rhyne next to the path but they have been on the path a few times which has led to some intersting meetings. Only once have I had to make a 2 mile detour for the sake of the last 1/2 mile cause they were sat in the middle of the path with their family, no amount of sweet talking will get them to move.

The current hatching of cygnets have matured enough to leave the parents so it shouldn't be too bad now.

Avatar
Ush | 7 years ago
1 like

Fair play being concerned for the swans' safety.  Eff the "got to get work" bollox though.

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