Police are investigating after a Jewish shopper was allegedly subjected to antisemitic abuse at a Waitrose in London.
It is also claimed supermarket staff refused requests for police to be contacted when the incident was called to their attention.
An Orthodox Jewish woman was is the queue for the checkout at a Waitrose store, in Harrow, London, on Monday when a fellow shopper became “fed-up” of waiting and began verbally abusing her, it was claimed.
One witness said: “This man loudly claimed that the problems in the UK are not immigration or the Government but the ‘f****** Jews.’
“I was in the queue behind him and told him to shut up or I would call the police to which he continued abusing the woman and me before the woman left the store highly distressed.”
The witness said the man also shouted, “F*** the Jews” and “kill Zionist Jews”.
He said he made two staff members aware of the incident, which happened around 12.25, including the store manager.
He asked them to contact police because he did not have a phone but they refused, he claimed.
The man he had directed them to continued “ranting” before paying for his shopping and leaving the store.
The witness claimed the store manager refused to call the police because the man left.
He later reported the incident to police himself and made a complaint to Waitrose.
“I know Waitrose cannot be responsible for who walks into their stores,” he said.
“But staff seem to have a policy of not calling the police or intervening at all when they’re aware of antisemitism.
“That to me is astonishing.”
He added that he’d since received an apology from Waitrose for the “upsetting interaction” and level of service he received.
In a email, the supermarket said it would co-operate with police and retain any CCTV evidence.
A Met spokesperson said: "On Monday, 22 June, police received an online report of a religiously aggravated hate crime at a shop on High Road, Harrow.
“It was reported that earlier that day, a man in the shop made antisemitic remarks towards a woman.
“This was a third-party report, and officers are currently working to identify the victim in order to continue enquiries.
“We understand that concerns remain high within Jewish communities. We continue to have an enhanced policing plan, focusing our resources around vulnerable areas to protect communities, disrupt offenders and tackle crime."
A Waitrose spokesperson said: "We want all our customers to feel welcome when shopping with us and have a zero tolerance policy towards antisemitism. We are very sorry our customer experienced such a distressing incident in our shop.
"We reported it to the police earlier this week, and we will cooperate with their investigation including sharing CCTV, which has been retained. Our branch management team was not given the full details of the incident at first, and we apologise for the initial delay in reporting it."
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.