Police warning after race attacks

Police in Surrey have warned they will not tolerate hate crime in any form after two separate attacks within days.

In the first case a man of Pakistani origin had his car damaged on three separate occasions while it was parked outside his home in Tadworth.

During the same week, a black parking attendant in Redhill was threatened and racially abused by a man holding a machete, who was later arrested.

Surrey Police said racially motivated crimes were treated as a priority.

Racial abuse

Damage to the car took place in Marbles Way, Tadworth, when vandals smashed and attempted to rip the wing mirrors from the Nissan Micra during the afternoon of 27 July and overnight on 26 July.

A few nights earlier, on 22 July, two white men were seen to dent every panel on the car before smashing the front passenger side lights.

The wing mirrors were also ripped off the victim's car in another overnight attack on 23 June.

In the incident in Redhill, on 30 July, the parking attendant asked the driver of a red and silver Mitsubishi van parked on double yellow lines near the junction of Clarendon Road and London Road to move his vehicle.

As the victim started to take down details of the van, the offender got out holding a machete and started shouting racially abusive comments towards him before driving off.

A 24-year-old man from Smallfield was later arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated harassment, and released on police bail pending further investigation.

Officers said the victim was only doing his job, and witnesses to the incident were asked to come forward.