British police officers are investigating a number of incidents of full-bodied passengers on the London Underground being handed cards containing abusive messages, reportedly composed by a group that bills itself as Overweight Haters Ltd.
Those in receipt of the cards, as well as witnesses to the exchange, have said that members of the group, an organisation that “hates and resents fat people,” have been handing them out on London trains before immediately walking off as the train comes to a stop.
A Twitter user named Kara Florish shared a picture of one of the cards she had received while on the Tube, describing the message on the back as “hateful and cowardly.”
@kflorish pic.twitter.com/gBIvj69WQ1
— Kara Florish (@kflorish) November 28, 2015
On Facebook, Florish wrote about her experience, saying: “I am not upset myself, I am smaller than the national average and not exactly obese, but this is hateful and cowardly and could potentially upset people struggling with confidence and eating disorders.
“Please tweet and share this if you are also outraged. Plus, to the person who wrote this card. Go back to school, you can’t spell beautiful.”
Her Tweet, which received worldwide attention, has spurred the British Transport Police to carry out an investigation into the cards and the group claiming responsibility for issuing them. The service is asking anyone who has witness the cards being handed out to make contact with its officers or rail officials.
We are aware of the leaflets being distributed in London and urge anyone who has been handed one to call us on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016.
— BTP (@BTP) November 30, 2015
In addition to Florish tweet, another person claimed to have seen a young man get on a train at Oxford Circus and hand one of the offensive cards to a woman, while telling her: “You’re fat.” The young male then disembarked the carriage, leaving the woman in tears.
The cards contain a number of insulting messages about body weight, with messages including: “Our organisation hates and resents fat people. We object to the enormous amount of food resources you consume while half the world starves.”
