Police are investigating an incident caught on film in which a post office employee was racially abused and sworn at by a customer and told to “go back to your own country”. The footage shows a woman shouting at the Asian cashier behind a glass screen next to the checkouts.
In the 30-second clip, recorded at the post office in Camden High Street, north London, on 4 January, the woman claims that the male postal assistant is laughing at her and said: “You won’t think it’s funny then, yeah. You won’t be laughing then, you ignorant fuckshit.”
The woman begins to walk away, but then turns to shout: “Who would want to look at you? What woman would want to look at that?” while gesturing at the employee.
She goes on: “Make sure you post my cards, otherwise I’ll come back and get a refund, you fat Paki cunts. Go back to your own country, yeah, you’re not wanted here. You fat motherfucking Paki! Ugly motherfucker!”
The Metropolitan police said they were looking into the incident, which happened on 24 January, and are looking for other possible victims. A spokesman said: “The Met is committed to tackling hate crime in all its forms and we have long since recognised the impact of hate crime on communities. Victims of hate crime can be assured that they will be taken seriously by the police.”
The victim, a 53-year-old man, did not wish to make a formal complaint, the force added.
Samrat Hanif, who was in the queue at the time of the incident, filmed the woman shouting obscenities and posted it on Facebook. It has been viewed more than 900,000 times. He said that everyone who witnessed the outburst was shocked . “All of a sudden I heard she’s screaming,” he said. “I don’t know why she was angry.”
He added that he hoped the video going viral would mean “this lady will never ever do this again”.
Post Office Ltd said it had offered its “full support” to the team in Camden, adding: “We expect all of our people to be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve and are very concerned by this incident.”
