The level of hatred which is quietly and insidiously fermenting underneath the surface of our society is something that most people are unaware of until, every now and then, we read or hear about a nasty hate based incident which indicates that there is a problem. These incidents might involve, Women, European Nationals, White Brits, LGBT people, Muslims, Black people or even followers of one football team against the followers of another.
They are happening to other people so we don’t do too much about it even if we are morally outraged.
However, these incidents are becoming too frequent. We have to do something now before the purveyors of hate can gain traction.
I was recently subjected to an incident as below...
“F.. off! You F…..g P.ki” – those were the words that exploded out of the mouth of a Construction worker a few days ago – straight at me – words that felt like dynamite going off within the walls of my mind.
You would think that a Burnley lad brought up in the 1980’s would have been used to it by now and that it shouldn’t have affected me as much as it did, as this type of thing was an everyday occurrence when I was growing up. Back then, I was used to it because it happened so often; but the last time I was a victim of a race-hate crime was in 2009 just after the birth of my daughter.
That incident too started with racial name-calling and taunting. I had hoped that my daughter and her generation wouldn’t have to endure what we did when we were growing up. I come to work every day to ensure that our kids (yours and mine) don’t have to put with ill-treatment at the hands of sexists, racists, homophobes, Islamaphobes, anti-Semites or any ill treatment from any person on any other grounds.
My daughter wasn’t even three months of age when she “witnessed” her first race-hate incident.
During that incident two male bystanders intervened and challenged the perpetrator about his behaviour who then called the Police – the bully ended up complaining about being bullied.
The irony was that I was the one who kept them from hitting him. It all blew up in seconds and there were accusations and counter-accusations between all three of them, and eventually, it all came to nothing as it was informally resolved by the Police.
Fast forward to a few days ago…
At the time of the latest incident, Arbus workers were carrying out works on the M1 motorway in and around the Northampton area. I was driving southbound along the M1 motorway. At this time there was an incident near to a slip road about 2 miles from the Watford Gap services southbound on the M1.
Briefly, the incident comprised of an accident that had taken place at around the point of where the final yards of the slip road in question meets the M1.
Traffic had been slow for some distance prior to the incident, by the time we had reached the incident the traffic was practically at a stand-still. Upon arrival at the scene of the incident, I could see a large lorry with its hazard warning lights on. Initially, I had thought that it had broken down. I moved very slowly to the outside lane as this was the only lane that was moving – albeit extremely slowly.
The perpetrator was wearing a high visibility vest with the Arbus logo clearly displayed.
As I moved into that lane I could see a white male Construction worker. This man was stood directly behind the barrier in the central reservation. He was stood alone at this time and ushering traffic. We were travelling in a stop-start manner. During a stop period, for a split second, I looked to my left and could see two vehicles had been involved in an accident and that the lorry was shielding them from on-coming traffic although it was at a standstill and then it happened.
In that instant, as I turned to the accident and then turned around to face the road again, my attention was attracted by the above described male who very angrily shouted: “Get moving!” His angry reaction was inappropriate and offensive and certainly not in-line with an employee working on a government-funded project.
I rolled down my window and said “Alright, alright” to which he shouted “Fuck off! You Fucking Paki!” His face grimaced and became contorted with rage. It felt to me as though he had become overcome by a hatred fuelled rage.
I was shocked and distressed by these words. I had not provoked him in any way and there could have been no justification for his words and his behaviour.
I felt my body become tense and I was literally shaken by the experience. I had lost my Father just a few days earlier, and the timing of this incident couldn’t have been much worse.
I drove straight to the nearest services, Watford Gap and called Northamptonshire Police who are now investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Needless to say that I was very upset with the incident and am shocked that the man felt comfortable enough to say these things whilst wearing his marked Arbus uniform.
I have reported the matter to both the Police and Highways England who both received the complaint with lots of sympathy, compassion and understanding. I have every faith that they will both investigate this matter and take appropriate action.
I think that Arbus need to look at the matter both at an incident level and at a strategic level, to understand how this man felt comfortable enough to behave in the way that he did, and to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
I have not yet been contacted by Arbus!
