Police have confirmed they are investigating a report a DPD driver allegedly shouted racist abuse at a dad driving a car with two children, aged five and six, in the back. Naomi Arnold, 30, said her partner, who did not want to be named, was travelling in a car with his six-year-old daughter and her five-year-old friend in the back seats up Breck Hill Road towards the junction with B684 Woodborough Road in Mapperley Top.
At around 5.15pm on Sunday (April 24) evening, Ms Arnold said her partner was trying to turn right onto Woodborough Road, and a DPD van with three men in approached but could not get by him to turn left. Frustrated at not being able to get by at first, Ms Arnold claimed the DPD driver rolled down the window and started shouting very strong racist abuse at her partner.
Ms Arnold said her partner rolled down his window to tell the driver that there were children in the back, but then claimed the racist abuse got even worse after the driver was alleged to have said he did not care. Ms Arnold said her six-year-old daughter screamed at her dad and to drive away as quickly as possible, which he did.
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Since the incident, Ms Arnold said her daughter had been staring out of her bedroom window, frightened of a white van. Ms Arnold said, for her, that was the final straw, and that she wanted the DPD driver to be caught.
Ms Arnold, who lives in Nottingham, said: "It's absolutely disgusting, it's horrifying to think in this day and age that this can still be experienced. What goes through someone's mind to think it's acceptable to shout things like that at two innocent little girls?
"In all fairness, my partner probably was in the way [of the van], that I'm not disputing, but regardless you should just wait. We've experienced racism before but I can't believe someone would stoop that low.
"My partner was so angry but couldn't do anything because he was with the kids. The person that's done this shouldn't be allowed in a job."
A spokesperson for DPD said: "We are extremely disappointed to hear about this incident and are taking these allegations incredibly seriously. We would like to apologise unreservedly to the family and reassure them, and everyone else, that we do not condone vile, racist behaviour in any form and that everything possible will be done to identify and deal with these individuals.
"We have established that we didn't have drivers delivering in that area at that time in the evening. However, we will track down the individuals through our own investigations and will make contact with the police to see if we can access CCTV evidence or anything else which may help us identify them.
"Diversity and inclusivity are absolutely core to our DNA as an organisation and we will never allow abhorrent behaviour such this within DPD." The incident has been reported by the family to Nottinghamshire Police, and officers confirmed they are investigating.
Inspector Chris Jury, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "We received a report from a member of the public about an incident on Sunday, April 24, and are investigating a potentially aggravated public order offence. We are in the process of speaking with the victims and gathering as much information as possible to work out exactly what happened.
"Nottinghamshire Police take any reports of racially aggravated crimes extremely seriously and would encourage anyone who is a victim of hate to report it to us as soon as possible by calling 101, via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or through True Vision’s dedicated hate reporting site."
