AN ENGLISH woman who shouted racist abuse at fellow passengers on a south London tram was arrested yesterday evening after a clip of her tirade went viral on YouTube.
The white woman, travelling on the Croydon to Wimbledon service, was filmed by a fellow passenger as she abused black passengers in an expletive-filled rant while her toddler son sat quietly on her lap.
In the clip, which lasts for more than two minutes, the woman directs her racist comments at black people and Poles – some travelling with children – and demands that all foreign commuters “go back to their own country”.
“What has this country come to? With loads of black people and a load of f--king Polish,” she says. Eventually, fellow passengers ask her to stop and a row breaks out between her and a number of other commuters.
The video, labelled My Tram Experience, was uploaded onto YouTube by user ladyk89 yesterday. It went viral after it was spread via Twitter. Some 125,000 people have viewed the video, which has attracted more than 14,500 comments.
After being made aware of the Twitter #mytramexperience, the British Transport Police appealed for help in identifying the woman.
“We will not tolerate racism in any form on the rail network and will do everything in our power to locate the person responsible,” the BTP said. It confirmed a 34-year-old woman had been arrested “for a racially aggravated public order offence”.
