An ex-employee at Aston Martin claimed he suffered racist and homophobic abuse from co-workers while building parts for the Formula 1 outfit.
Aidan Louw told Sky News he was targeted immediately after starting his role as a contractor for the Silverstone-based team. He said he was called the n-word on multiple occasions, while more abuse came his way after he revealed a past relationship with another man.
"Before even walking into my working environment, that's when I was told 'look if you've got a problem with how we speak here, it's just how we speak'," said Louw, who worked as a laminator. The South Africa-born worker was visibly emotional as he recounted his experience.
"The main perpetrator piped up, and the first nickname was 'brownie' – that's when it started. It went from 'brownie' to 'darkie', so you can see how it started escalating, just on the second shift. I wasn't referred to as Aidy or anything like that. I was called 'n** n**' and 'brownie' – that is what I was referred to."
The abuse from co-workers, Louw said, was constant and he was called the n-word on an "hourly" basis. "It was towards the end of the duration that I had finally processed what was happening," he added.
"It had taken me shift cycle after shift cycle of abuse after abuse, words going from 'n** n**' and 'brownie' to outright 'n*****'. When I am being called a 'n*****' that's where I draw the line, that's where I go no."
On the homophobic abuse, he added: "I disclosed to someone that I had a boyfriend in my teen years and that was it – in that split second everything switched. As soon as they found out about that sliver of information that was it, they were trying to claw me down to break me down as a man, as an individual and a human."
Responding to those allegations, Aston Martin told Sky News that the team was "in ongoing discussions" with Louw, adding that he had been fired for poor performance. "AMR and its supplier operate a zero-tolerance policy with regard to racism, homophobia and all types of discrimination," said the team.
"We deal with any allegations of this unacceptable behaviour seriously including thoroughly investigating such claims and sanctioning any individual who falls short of our standards. In this case, the complainant was rightly believed, his complaints were immediately acted upon and appropriate sanctions were imposed in line with our zero-tolerance policy."
