Women shaken by homophobic abuse on train
Attacker was `like leader of a pack of wolves’
British Transport Police are appealing for witnesses af ter a couple were subjected to homophobic abuse on a train travelling to Stirling.
CCTV footage is being studied to identify the suspect, who is a woman between 40 and 50 years old, with blonde bobbed hair, glasses and wearing a pink and purple top. She was travelling in the company of at least six other females on the train.
One of the victims Sarah Drummond, 29, has written a blog about the horrifying incident which occurred when she and her partner, aged 30, were heading to Stirling to visit the Wallace Monument. In her post, entitled Seeing Homophobia Up Close, she described their abuser as being “like the leader of a pack of wolves. She’s staring right at us and making all of her friends laugh. She’s trying to rally them all behind her.”
The woman shouted things like “I cannae believe what I’m looking at here” and “Disgusting”. Then she said “Get your cameras, this needs to go on Facebook”.
Sarah was crying, and she and her partner got up to move carriages. Her girlfriend turned to the woman and said: “I hope you’re proud of what you just did”. The woman replied: “No I’m proud of who we are” and went to stand up, as if ready for a fight.
The incident, happened on the 2.59pm train from Queen Street to Alloa on Sunday ( May 1). CCTV footage is being reviewed to help identify the woman – who got off the train at Alloa.
Constable Nicky Ritchie said: “Hate crime in any form is totally unacceptable and there is absolutely no excuse. I am keen to hear from anyone who was on the train or at any of the stations and can identify the suspect or has information which can assist our enquiry.”
Sarah, the managing director of an awardwinning Glasgow design consultancy, stays on her blog: “To the lady who attacked us. I’m angry, upset, shaken and sad. But thank you – you’ve reminded me that I need to be stronger and be myself. Thank you for reminding me there is still more work to be done and not to become complacent about equal rights. I’m sorry you’re so angry inside.”
And she criticised ScotRail, whose station rep didn’t appear to know what to do. She said: “They should make sure to have all staff fully trained and the information easily findable online with an explanation of how they treat discrimination.What happened on Sunday isn’t by far a bad experience in comparison to what some people go through, but it still hurt and we’re lucky it didn’t escalate to physical violence.”
Sarah is planning an Alloa ‘ pride party’ on August 13, and wants anyone interested to get in touch. Get details at rufflemuffin.org
British Transport Police can be contacted on 0800 40 50 40 or by texting 61016. Information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 545 of 01/05/2016.
A ScotRail Alliance spokeswoman said, “We regularly publicise the BTP text service via social media and, as a result of Ms Drummond’s feedback, we intend to highlight the service on our website too.”