The following article was posted today on Religious Reader highlighting alleged racism and anti-Muslim bigotry that had been targeted at a group of four visible Muslim women who used the services of National Express on the 14th of June. They were looking to travel from Manchester to Leeds.
We have found out that within the 060/061 coach from Manchester to Leeds, (via Bradford), there are the letters SEL that are stamped within the coaches and this stands for Selwyn’s Travel. This is an operator which bids for contracts from National Express to run coaches for them.
Selwyn’s are one of the UK’s largest coach operators and operate over 70 coaches for National Express. They are owned by a multinational transport company called RATP-Dev, the French State owned bus and train operator. RATP also own the Manchester tram system.
In 2012, RATP banned three posters to counter anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia that had been developed by the French organisation, Collectif Contre L’Islamophobie en France, (CCIF).
Finally, Faith Matters received the following response from National Express when they highlighted the Religious Reader piece. Let us hope that National Express contact Selwyn’s and find out the driver responsible for the alleged hate incident.
@FaithMattersUK Racism isn't tolerated by National Express and this matter is being investigated as a priority by our Customer Service Team.
— NX Customer Service (@nxcare) June 20, 2015