A dad today told how he was subjected to a tirade of vile racist abuse as he walked home with his 10-month-old son.
Shaken Carl Smith, 42, had been for lunch with work friends in Preston city centre and was walking home close to the Fishergate Centre, with his young son Julius in his pram, when the incident happened.
He says a woman crossed over the road and, as their paths met, she suddenly berated him with an unprovoked catalogue of racist abuse.
Carl, who has lived in Preston all his life and works as a youth worker, quickly walked off and called police immediately, but says he was told there was no one available to respond immediately.
And despite saying there are CCTV cameras in the area, he claims he was told there was little chance of the offender being caught when he later reported the offence at Preston police station.
Today he told how the incident has left him feeling “disappointed” and said he does not feel his complaint has been treated seriously enough by police.
He says he wants to have further dialogue with police about the offence and the effect it has had on him.
Single dad Carl, from Broadgate, said: “As she was coming across she just looked at me and started.
“It lasted quite a few seconds because when she started at me I phoned the police and while I was on the phone she was still abusing me. Because I had Julius with me I wasn’t sure whether she might just have turned round and come at us.
“I was disappointed really. All the years I have been here and someone can still do that to you.
“You don’t expect it from an older person. What has my son got to look forward to if someone can abuse me and no one is going to do anything about it?”
A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “We received a call from Mr Smith at 2.50pm on January 9.
“This incident was initially given a priority response in accordance with our policy, however Mr Smith declined to provide any details of the alleged incident and therefore it was investigated based on the information we had available.
“I’d like to reassure people that we will not tolerate racist abuse and consequently we treat all racist and hate crime incidents very seriously.”
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