Smith claims that the staff member asked for the black passenger to prove he had a first class ticket, before moving on to serve the rest of the customers
Virgin Trains has been forced to apologize to Olympian Louis Smith after he claims he and another black customer were the only people in a first class carriage to be asked to show their tickets.
The 29-year-old live tweeted the situation, in which he alleges an employee on a Virgin East Coast train challenged his fellow passenger whilst serving drinks on the carriage.
Smith claims that the staff member asked for the black passenger to prove he had a first class ticket, before moving on to serve the rest of the customers.
Writing on Twitter, he said: “Well, this train journey certainly got a lot more interesting and political.”
He explains how the waiter asked to see the man’s ticket before going on to serve the woman behind him without asking for hers.
“When he gets to me he asks if I want any [drinks],” continued Smith. “I decline. He then asks if I have a first class ticket, I said yes.
“He said can I see it. I said yes but don't you believe me? I show him, he accepts it and carries on serving!”
“The quite upset and understandably intrigued gentleman asks why he's asked the only two black passengers if they are meant to be in first class. This escalated quickly... is it just a coincidence or not... what do you think!?”
After gaining a lot of attention online, Virgin has publicly apologized over Twitter. Replying to Smith’s tweets, they wrote:” Hi Louis. Please accept my sincerest apologies for this. I have spoken to the Train Manager on this service at length about what has happened and there will be a complaint logged and investigated.”
Earlier this year, we reported on a study which claimed that black women were expected to undertake more office ‘housework’ than their colleagues – shedding some uncomfortable light on racial profiling.
“When we surveyed a nationwide sample of lawyers, women of colour were the most likely to report doing more administrative tasks than their colleagues — over 20% more likely than white men,” the report details. “White women were 18% more likely to report doing more admin tasks than white men.”
The report continued: “Moreover, because of these stereotypes, women and people of colour are under social pressures to volunteer for office housework activities