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This is the man that told “to get back on my boat” his little buddy behind him was also intimidating and goading his older mates on.
today at 12:15pm (3 Jan 2026), while shopping at JD Sports – Swindon town centre, I was verbally abused, racially targeted and intimidated by a group of customers.
What started as an older man repeatedly circling and muttering at me quickly escalated. He squared up to me, got in my face and accused me of calling him a name. He was then joined by several others who spoke over me while trying to intimidate me.
One man clearly told me to “go back on your boat.”
I asked him to repeat it. He did.
That is racism. Full stop.
Throughout this entire incident, JD Sports staff did nothing. They continued serving customers while I was being harassed and threatened. No intervention. No safeguarding. No escalation.
A member of the public stepped in before staff did.
When I reached the till and explained what had happened, I was met with a casual “sorry to hear that, have a good day.” That was it.
Only as I was leaving did two supervisors approach me, saying they hadn’t heard anything and couldn’t step away from serving customers. One later admitted they had “let me down.” Another staff member confirmed she had witnessed the racism and intimidation.
To make matters worse, the same group waited outside the store for 10–15 minutes, increasing my fear and distress — especially as I had my young children with me.
I will be reporting this to the police.
No one should have to tolerate racism, intimidation or threats while shopping.
And customers should never be left to defend themselves while staff stand by.
JD Sports needs to answer:
• What is your policy on racist abuse and harassment?
• Why did staff fail to intervene?
• What are you doing to ensure this doesn’t happen again?
This was unacceptable. And silence or inaction enables racism.
#Racism #CustomerSafety #Accountability #JDSports #ZeroTolerance SpeakUp
