A mum claims both her and her young son were verbally harassed by the homeless man who had dirty water poured around him by a Sutton station worker.
Kirstie Webster, 31, from Banstead, says she was in the process of purchasing a ticket before the man started making comments towards her and her four-year-old.
It’s said that the incident, which reportedly involved another person, occurred shortly before the video of a Southern Rail worker tipping a bucket of water around him was filmed that Sunday (February 24) afternoon.
READ: Southern Rail workers suspended after video of Sutton station incident goes viral
She said: “They were commenting on my clothes, they said, 'Look at you thinking that you're better than everyone else because you've got Converses on and because you've got this handbag and because you've got that [et cetera]'.
“They were just being very manipulative. It was bullying, really, in a way and I felt very intimidated.
“I actually went and got help from the train guy who was actually there. He moved them on, that was it. He didn't just go up to them he just said they had been causing trouble all day.
“They were not even begging so, as far as I'm concerned, they weren't begging outside the train station they were just sat there drinking.”
Kirstie also claims the man filmed lying on the floor was “screamed and shouted” in the face of a gym worker but he “wasn’t intimidated”.
Allegedly, it was after Kirstie went to train staff that he then stepped in with a colleague to try and help.
She added: “There were quite a lot of witnesses there, a lot of people witnessed [the alleged incident] it.
“The guy wasn't homeless, he was just sitting there enjoying the sun. That was all that they were, they weren't nice people. They're far from nice people and what me and my little boy experienced yesterday, it's traumatised my little boy.
“He had to sit all the way home on the train crying his eyes out, that's not something he should be doing on a day out when you're going out in the sun.”
When asked whether she felt the action taken by the train station staff was appropriate, she added: “It was appropriate action because they had been moved on. They had been asked to move on all day.
“All he did was help the public and was doing his job.”
Someone has also come forward claiming to have been a witness to the incident that day, though has not since responded to an approach for further comment.
READ: Viral video shows Sutton station worker pouring dirty water around homeless man
Twitter user ProvisionalDave said: “Common assault is laughable. I was sitting outside [in a] taxi rank watching it unfold.
“He abused a woman and her young child, he went face-to-face with a guy selling gym memberships for Anytime Fitness.
“This is a daily occurrence and the water was thrown around him, not on him. Wrong, yes. Common assault, no.”
Southern have since suspended the two workers involved while the British Transport Police say they are investigating the incident as a common assault.
A spokeswoman for the force said they were called to a report of an aggressive male at Sutton station at around 12.42pm that day.
However, “the male quickly left the station – meaning there was no need for police attendance.”
She added it’s unclear at this stage whether it was the same person and they are not being treated as linked at this stage.
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