Vicious racist attack on two Sikh elderly men in Wolverhampton
• Police slow to reach out and support victims • Keir Starmer yet to deliver on his personal promise to treat Anti-Sikh hate on a par with Antisemitism and Islamophobia
London - 18 August 2025
A video from Wolverhampton has gone viral showing two elderly Sikh men in their 60s and 70s being viciously assaulted in broad daylight.[1] One of the victims can be seen without his turban laying on the floor, while another is being kicked and punched.
There has been a worrying increase in Anti-Sikh hate crimes across the UK since Labour came to power.
What is most concerning is that recent incidents have targeted those that are most vulnerable in the community, either young children or elders. Furthermore, these crimes and attacks are being carried out in public places and during the daytime.
This growth in hate towards those that visibly look different and deemed foreign has coincided with the popular right wing “anti-immigration” agenda. Dabinderjit Singh OBE, the Lead Executive for Political Engagement at the Sikh Federation (UK) said:
“Keir Starmer in his efforts to appeal to Reform UK voters needs to accept he has unwittingly unleashed a level of hate with his irresponsible ‘island of strangers’ immigration speech.” “This also appears to be preventing him and the Labour government delivering on their specific promise before the General Election to treat Anti-Sikh hate on a par with Antisemitism and Islamophobia.”[2]
We have spoken to both victims and their families following the attack last Friday at around 2pm by a group of young white men outside Wolverhampton train station.
The elderly gentlemen, both local taxi drivers were on duty outside the station, while working for a local taxi firm. A group of three white men exited the station and approached one of the drivers and demanded he take them to Oldbury.
One of the drivers told us they were very rude and abusive and ordered him to take them. He explained that the system does not work this way and that they would have to go into the taxi rank and book from there. But they were not interested or listening, instead they continued with their swearing and abuse. They used the P word and laughed, before walking away.
The group then returned after being told the same by other drivers and were a lot more aggressive and abusive towards the driver. There was a barrage of racist abuse using the P word accusing him of only taking P customers.
They then stepped to his face and started pushing him and within seconds he was being assaulted and punched in the face. His dastaar (turban) was removed while he was being punched and attacked from all sides by the three men and he fell to the floor as the attack continued.
When a colleague who was also a friend who is in his 70s tried to stop them and come to his aid the group turned on him and brutally attacked him. He has several broken ribs, is heavily bruised, having difficulty breathing and is in pain.
Both victims have been living and working in the UK for over 30 years, and never experienced such a violent and scary attack. The assault only stopped when members of the public intervened and shouted at them to stop as they recorded the whole thing.
We understand all three men were arrested and detained by police, before being released on bail on Saturday.
What is shocking is despite having many who witnessed the attacks as well as CCTV footage and taking the attackers into custody, the police officers only reached out to speak to the victims more than 48 hours after the attack as the video of the attack went viral. They were told due to limited resources their statements would be taken later today. No one from victim support has been in contact despite such a brutal attack.
Jas Singh, Principle Advisor to the Sikh Federation (UK) said: “These two elderly men have been left seriously injured and traumatised by this attack, with no support and limited follow up from the authorities or police.” “It is unacceptable that the follow up yesterday only came after the video of the attack went viral. This incident must be treated as a religious and racially aggravated hate crime, as this is exactly what it is. A brutal racist attack by three young men on two elderly Sikh taxi drivers without any provocation.” “The UK Government, especially after Keir Starmer’s reference to ‘island of strangers’ immigration speech needs to urgently address Anti-Sikh hate and act upon the recommendations nearly 5 years ago by the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs.”[3]
ENDS Jaspal Singh Lead Executive Sikh Federation (UK)
[1] https://x.com/TheSikhNet/status/1956662175679799697
[2] https://x.com/sikhfeduk/status/1944726496272400481?s=46&t=vHEhCZYd8FBk4P2Xzx1fFg
[3] https://www.sikhfeduk.com/assets/files/APPG-Anti-Sikh-Hate-Crime-Report-2020.pdf