'We must confront them': British woman slammed for criticising Hindi-speaking staff at Heathrow; accused of racism

A British woman has come under fire after having an issue over Marks & Spencer employees at London Heathrow Airport speaking in Hindi. Lucy White, who describes herself as a public policy specialist, shared her incident in a post on X, which quickly went viral and drew widespread criticism. Many accused her of racism and intolerance in a multicultural environment.

White wrote that she had just arrived at Terminal 3 of the airport and visited the M&S store, where she overheard three staff members speaking in a language other than English. When she asked them what language they were speaking, the employees told her it was Hindi, the most widely spoken language in India.

“I have a voice recording & their names to report to M&S. We must confront them every time,” she added.

Just landed in Heathrow Airport T3. Went into M&S. Three @marksandspencer staff speaking in another language.

I asked them “What language are you speaking?”

They responded “Hindi”

I have a voice recording & their names to report to M&S.

We must confront them every time.

— Lucy White (@LucyJayneWhite1) July 24, 2025

Her post drew backlash with users online calling her racist and many questioning why she found it offensive and what rules the employees had broken.

This incident is not the first time White has faced criticism for similar remarks. A few weeks ago, she posted another tweet targeting Indian and Asian employees at Heathrow, claiming they spoke “not a word of English.” She added that when she asked them to speak English, they called her a “racist.”

One user, on her latest post, commented, “Confront people who talk in a different language? No thanks. We should however confront vile bigots like yourself that make this country a much sadder, less friendlier place.”

Another user said, “How embarrassing. Heaven forbid someone speaks more than one language if they work in a major international airport.”