'It happens on a regular basis': Birmingham doorman speaks out after racist abuse

A bouncer in Birmingham speaks out following the racist attack he has faced this year

A doorman who was racially abused and spat at outside a pub in Birmingham has said incidents have become common place. 

Tristan Price, who's 26-years-old, was speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain about the incident.

He told ITV: "A lot more people are starting to kind of wake up to what's happening and struggles that people like me be going through.

"Initially, people would almost act as if it doesn't happen or because it's not directly in their face.

"That was just an incident that maybe happens on a regular basis to some doormen maybe I don't know how many times a shift but it just so happens it was recorded."

It comes as the number of hate crimes recorded by police in England has hit its highest level on record, with a 12% rise in racially motivated incidents, official figures show.

There were 124,091 hate crimes recorded in the year to March 2021, according to Home Office statistics.

This comprises 92,052 race hate crimes, 6,377 religious hate crimes, 18,596 sexual-orientation hate crimes, 9,943 disability hate crimes and 2,799 transgender hate crimes.

Numbers have risen each year since records began in 2011-12.

The Home Office said the rises have been driven by improvements in recording, growing awareness and a better identification of what constitutes a hate crime.

Around three-quarters of these crimes – 85,268 offences – were racially motivated, an annual rise of 12% or more than 9,000 more incidents.

Disability related hate crimes rose by 9%, sexual orientation-related hate crimes by 7%, while transgender identity-related hate crimes were up 3%.

The Home Office said those last three percentage changes were lower than seen in recent years.

Hate crimes linked to religion were down 18% compared to the previous year – the second annual fall in a row.

More than half (52%) of the crimes recorded were for public order offences.

The Home Office said there was an increase in public order hate crimes during the summer of 2020 following the Black Lives Matter protests and far-right counter-protests.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive at independent charity Victim Support, said: "At Victim Support, we’ve also seen a rise in the number of people coming to us for support as a result of hate crime and it’s incredibly concerning to see a significant increase across the country."

"We do recognise that the observed increase may be the result of the easing of lockdown restrictions, which has made it easier for more victims to come forward, and people feeling more confident in reporting incidences which is positive."

Chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, Jabeer Butt, said: "The latest hate crime figures paint a bleak picture for equality in the UK.

"The fact that almost three quarters of hate crimes were racially motivated shows just how far is left to go towards building a society that is truly tolerant and anti-racist."

"The Government’s Hate Crime Action Plan has clearly fallen short and needs to be revisited as a matter of urgency."