A photo of a gleeful-looking Poodle on a Virgin Train that was posted on Twitter has melted hearts and outraged passengers in equal measure. The dog was sitting upright on a carriage on a Virgin Trains service when it was photographed by a fellow passenger. Virgin Trains then shared the image on Twitter, adding 'have you ever seen a passenger so happy' to their post. However, the dog's owner and Virgin Train were hit by criticism on Twitter for allowing the animal to sit on a 'human seat'.
Tom McCormack tweeted: 'Thinking of the person next to sit in that seat, would you want to pay the price of travelling on a Virgin Train and then get dog hairs on your clothes. Another user wrote: 'Dogs sat on the seat - so that rules out people who suffer from pet hair allergies from travelling on Virgin trains. Disgusting a dog sat on a passenger/human seat. No infection or disease control and against policies having a dog on a seat.' One user complained about the behaviour of passengers. She was supported by Lisa Gasometer who wrote: 'I'd the misfortune of recently sitting opposite a woman who picked and blew her nose put the tissues on the seat and slurped stinking chips and curry sauce wafting everywhere. 'A dog would be preferable to her and most people any day.'Kirsty Walker wrote: ‘Good boys sit. He is sitting. He is a good boy. He also has more composure, love and compassion than 95 per cent of humans have. So let him have the damn sea.’
Stephen Jacobsen commented: ‘Don’t get me wrong I love dogs, but they shouldn’t be sat on seats whatsoever.‘Passengers wearing suits are likely to need to sit on that seat.‘Dogs should be kept on the floor.’Christopher Golds wrote: ‘I’ve never seen anyone so smiley. Too cute.’A the woman known only as Vanessa added: ‘His parents said this is his preferred way to travel. He’s so perfectly behaved too. Much better than people.’A Virgin Trains spokesperson said: 'We loved the photo of our furry passenger it was just too cute not to share. 'Where space is available for furry friends to take a seat, we ask customers to pop a blanket on the seat before they both sit down to enjoy the journey.'The post, retweeted by Virgin Trains' twitter account, prompted other users to share snaps of pets on public transport. It was retweeted 714 times and liked more than 4,500 times.