He's famed for rousing support from the Barmy Army at cricket games, but Billy the Trumpet's story hit a sad note last night.

Billy was on the 10.30pm Southeastern service between Charing Cross and Tunbridge Wells when disaster struck.

As he boarded the train, he put his prized possession, stored in a black bag, on the overhead luggage rack.

Unfortunately when he got off the train at Orpington, he left the instrument behind.

A social media campaign has been launched to help find it, with Mr Cooper saying he accepts it's his fault for leaving it on the train, but he would really like it back.

But this isn't the first time Billy has lost his trumpet however, having previously left it in a taxi in Barbados while following England on a tour of the West Indies in 2004.

The instrument was found by a fellow supporter, who asked Mr Cooper to prove it was his by playing it.

He played a rendition of The Great Escape theme tune, which led to supporters offering to pay his air fare for him to join them on England's tour of South Africa.

The search has attracted support from many cricket fans, with Jonathan Agnew MBE, a cricket commentator for the BBC, tweeting his support.

It would appear that his trumpet has nine lives however, as Billy took to Twitter once again on Friday evening to say that the instrument had been located.

He reported that a woman on the Southeastern service had picked it up, and managed to trace it back to him.