‘You’re out of order’: Train passengers unite to confront woman racially abusing conductor

A woman who racially abused a train conductor in New Zealand has been condemned by other passengers and human rights groups.

A video shared on social media showed the woman, who claimed to be from the indigenous Maori Tuhoe tribe, arguing with a conductor who appeared to have an Indian accent.

She can be heard telling the rail worker to “mind your manners,” calling him a “motherf**ker” later in the clip.

The video was posted by a Twitter user whose wife filmed the exchange on Thursday.

According The New Zealand Herald, the argument began when the conductor tried to explain there was a problem with the woman’s ticket.

The conductor, who is outside the frame for the duration of the video, can be heard talking about kicking the woman off the train at the next stop and asking her to be civil, but she responds by telling him to mind his manners.

“My manners are perfect, unlike yours,” he replied, to which she responds: “Oh no they’re not, in your country they’re not, they’re disgraceful.”

He asks: “What does my country have to do with it?”

Passengers began interrupting the woman at this point, with one woman saying: “Resolve it without being racist.”

The woman ignores the other passengers and repeatedly demands he give her the ticket. She then thanks Jesus multiple times and appears to add: “May you be crucified for your injustices.”

“Clearly you’re not a Christian because you don’t know what it means to be a Christian,” said the conductor.

Other passengers tell the woman: “You’re out of order, you’re way out of line.”

One person added: “Keep your mouth shut, we’re all listening.”

Another passenger tells the woman she “ought to be embarrassed”, and she replies: “I’m not embarrassed by you people.”

A man addresses the conductor to reassure him most passengers were on his side and added: “What she said, we don’t go with it. She has no right to make racist comments like that.”

The conductor thanks him and moves down the train, but the woman isn’t finished yet. She exclaims: “I’ll shut all these trains down. I’m a Tuhoe. I own half this country, you motherf**ker, watch your mouth.”

She watches after the conductor as he interacts with other passengers and said: “I don’t kiss people’s arses. I speak the truth.”

Metlink Wellington replied to the video on Twitter and said: “This is very shocking to see. We would like to say thank you to the customers who have reported this incident.

“The Rail Operator have been made aware to address and hopefully prevent this type of behaviour on all Metlink services."

Twitter user Jeet Sheth said: "I was there too. The train conductor behaved impeccably. It was quite confronting to see such intimidating and racist behaviour from the passenger."

The New Zealand Human Rights Commission added: “The racist incident on the train in Wellington last night is completely unacceptable. We commend the passengers who called it out and supported the victim. We encourage other Kiwis to follow their inspirational example.”