‘Kids racially abused me and the adults’ reaction broke me’

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A woman says she is “shaken” and “heartbroken” after being racially abused by four children while travelling on the Elizabeth line.

Sophia Choudry said she was repeatedly called the P-word on 7 September on a journey from Paddington to Maidenhead.

She called police before the youngsters left the train at Hayes and Harlington station in west London.

British Transport Police (BTP) said it had launched an investigation and Transport for London (TfL) said it was “deeply sorry” and was investigating why Ms Choudry did not receive the help she needed.

A video Ms Choudry, 47, posted of the incident has been viewed two million times on TikTok. The entrepreneur said she hadn’t had the term directed at her for 25 years.

Upon realising she was filming, the children tried to cover their faces – and other passengers criticised her for filming.

One passenger replied “so what?” after she explained she had been racially abused.

Ms Choudry said after calling the police, she activated the passenger alarm to try to stop the youngsters from fleeing.

She said: “I was shocked and angry about the children’s reaction but the adults’ reactions are what broke me and brought me to tears.”

Despite reporting the incident and being told to wait for the police at the station, she was not met by BTP officers and resumed her journey to Slough, where her husband collected her.

A few days later she received a letter from BTP saying it had closed the investigation partly because of a “lack of identifiable suspects”.

She said the case was reopened and an officer assigned to it after the BBC began making inquiries.

BTP said she was not met at the station as officers were dealing with a crash and the case was initially closed due to a lack of available evidence.

A spokesperson added the case was re-opened the next day when the victim contacted police to make a formal statement and supplied a video of the matter.

Ms Choudry said it brought back memories of growing up in Sunderland where she was “the only brown girl in my school” and “suffered a lot of racism”.

Last year, reported incidents of hate crimes on the Elizabeth line rose by nearly 50%, and by 28% across the wider London transport network, according to the latest TfL figures.

Ms Choudry said 10 years ago she was overjoyed when her children came home and asked “what’s racism?”.

She said: “I couldn’t believe it. I thought things had changed. To hear that word it feels like we’ve regressed and nothing’s changed.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They were just laughing at me, they didn’t care.”

Ms Choudry added that she wants to “focus on the 95% [of people] who are showing love and support” because “if I don’t focus on them I’ll never leave the house again”.

She told the BBC: “I’ve got a feeling that every person of colour has had this feeling.”

In some areas of the country, St George flags and union jacks have been raised on lampposts and painted on roundabouts, which Ms Choudry said made her uneasy.

“As soon as those flags went up, something changed in the wind, something didn’t feel right.

“I’m a very positive person, I don’t go looking for trouble. There’s a shift now. If I see a group of children now, I’ll cross the road. I just don’t want the trouble.”

As for the children who abused her, she added she had shared the video “because we can’t normalise racism”.

She said: “They’re not just kids – they’re the future.

“I just hope that parents are bringing up their children to treat everyone equally with respect regardless of colour.”

A BTP spokesperson said they “take a zero tolerance approach to hate crime” and anyone who witnessed the incident was asked to contact BTP.

A TfL spokesperson also said they had a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of abuse and they were investigating why Ms Choudry did not receive the help she needed.