A ranting woman accused an Asian Great British Bake Off contestant of ‘all these bombings’ before the ‘bus driver asked him to get off the bus’ miles from his stop.
Ali Imdad, 33, from Alum Rock, Birmingham, was travelling on the 94 National Express West Midlands service from the City Centre on Saturday 20 at 6.15pm.
The owner of patisserie, Cocoa by Ali, described how he was ‘made to feel like a criminal’ when he claimed he was asked to get off the the bus by the driver.
Ali Imdad, 33, from Alum Rock, Birmingham, was travelling on the 94 National Express West Midlands service from the City Centre on Saturday 20 at 6.15pm
Mr Imdad shared the clip on Twitter, captioned: ‘Not only was I called a bomber and accused of ruining the country for being Asian, when I challenged the Karen, the driver threatened to throw ME off the National Express West Midlands bus. In a packed bus, no one said a thing.’
Ali, who placed ninth in the 2013 series of The Great British Bake Off, added: ‘No. Despite the undying urge to, I did not reply with: ‘I was on the Great British Bake Off b****, you can’t get any more British than that”.
In the video, filmed by Mr Imdad, the woman is heard saying: ‘Fifty years ago – there was no Asians. Now it’s everywhere.’
The owner of patisserie, Cocoa by Ali, (left) described how he was ‘made to feel like a criminal’ when he claimed he was asked to get off the the bus by the driver. In the video, filmed by Mr Imdad, the woman (pictured right) is heard saying: ‘Fifty years ago – there was no Asians. Now it’s everywhere’
Mr Imdad shared the clip on Twitter, captioned: ‘Not only was I called a bomber and accused of ruining the country for being Asian, when I challenged the Karen, the driver threatened to throw ME off the National Express West Midlands bus. In a packed bus, no one said a thing’
Mr Imdad responds: ‘So?’
The woman replies: ‘What have you done to the country?
‘What have I done to the country? What have you done to the country? Mr Imdad asks.
The woman states: ‘All these bombings.’
Mr Imdad responds: ‘Oh so I have done the bombings?’
‘What have I done to the country? What have you done to the country? Mr Imdad asks the woman (pictured)
She quickly adds: ‘Yeah you have.’
‘So I have done the bombings?’
Before stepping out of her seat, the woman adds: ‘Yeah, people like you.’
Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Imdad explained how he was listening to his music on the bus and looking out of the window when he heard the woman ‘muttering’ next to him.
He said: ‘In the gaps of my music I could just hear stuff like: “This country has gone to s***. Boris is doing it all wrong he is not strict enough.”
Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Imdad (pictured on The Great British Bake Off) explained how he was listening to his music on the bus and looking out of the window when he heard the woman ‘muttering’ next to him
‘Then that caught my attention. I thought: “I am going to take my headphones out and try and pay attention to what she is saying.”’
He continued: ‘She was just rambling nonsense for about five minutes about the same sort of things. She was saying nothing clear until she said there are too many Asians here.
‘That is when I got my phone out and the first thing I did was press the record button and then I started sort of confronting her.’
The patisserie owner explained how he told the woman to ‘get off’ the bus but the man behind where he was sitting ‘defended her’ despite him being ‘victimised’.
Mr Imdad added: ‘I guess what was really infuriating was that in a bus full of people – nobody spoke up.’
The patisserie owner (pictured on The Great British Bake Off) explained how he told the woman to ‘get off’ the bus but the man behind where he was sitting ‘defended her’ despite him being ‘victimised’
He described how a couple of people offered kind words after the woman left the bus but said: ‘In the middle of that tirade of abuse I just felt so alone.’
Mr Imdad revealed how the bus driver stopped the bus shortly after the woman left at the stop in Nechells.
He said: ‘The bus driver heard what was being said because a minute or two later he literally stopped the bus, pulled the keys out, stepped outside and said: “I need you to get off the bus.” He was talking to me.’
Mr Imdad claimed that the bus driver said it was because he was ‘shouting’ and told him if he wanted to complain he should get off the bus and call the police.
Mr Imdad (pictured) claimed that the bus driver said it was because he was ‘shouting’ and told him if he wanted to complain he should get off the bus and call the police
Mr Imdad agreed to keep quiet until his stop, but added: ‘It was really weird because why didn’t he do that when she was shouting?’
Speaking about how he felt during the exchange, he said: ‘It is just so infuriating – I am just trying to get home.
‘Just for existing, just because my skin pigments are slightly darker than hers, I am not only victimised I am made to feel like I am the criminal by being told to get off the bus because I am defending my human rights.’
Mr Imdad said he reported the incident to West Midlands Police who are investigating the incident.
Speaking about National Express West Midlands, Mr Imdad said he received a call from the bus company and he was told they would ‘be in touch’ adding they would ‘look into it’ and ‘it shouldn’t have happened’.
A National Express West Midlands spokeswoman said: ‘National Express West Midlands takes strong action on racial abuse.
‘We encourage anyone experiencing hate crime on public transport to report it to West Midlands Safer Travel police.
‘We have crystal clear CCTV on all National Express buses and we will make the footage available to the police to help with any investigation.
‘National Express West Midlands will also investigate this incident and take any action necessary in line with our staff disciplinary procedures.’
MailOnline has contacted West Midlands Police.