Police investigating hate crime at Eastbourne station

Police are calling for anyone with information to get in touch after the alleged incident on the 11.09 train to London Victoria on April 30.

A spokesperson for British Transport Police said, “We are currently investigating an allegation of a hate crime on a Southern train.

“It was on the 1109 service from Eastbourne to London Victoria.

“Anyone with information should get in touch by texting 61016 and quoting 298 07/05/2017.”

Angela Bennett, who says she was called a racial slur in the incident, said, “I was gutted and upset and shaken, I was nearly in tears. It was very unexpected.

“This is something you hear about, but it has never happened to me in Eastbourne. People have been very nice.

“I was horrified and shocked. It knocks everything out of kilter, and makes you think ‘are people really thinking this way?’

“I hope I don’t have to experience that again and no one else does. I hope it doesn’t happen to anybody else.”

A trustee of The Eastbourne Ethnic Minority Society, Ms Bennet said if anyone goes through a similar situation they should report it to police so more awareness is raised for hate crimes.