Police have launched an investigation into the distribution of abusive cards on the London Underground purporting to be from a group calling itself Overweight Haters Ltd.
A number of people have reported seeing passengers being handed the cards, said to come from an organisation that “hates and resents fat people”.
A Twitter user named Kara Florish posted a picture of one of the cards, which she said she had been given on the tube, describing it as “hateful and cowardly”.
British Transport police used Twitter to say that it was aware of the leaflets and urge anyone who had been handed one to contact them.
Another person reported seeing a young man get on a train at Oxford Circus and hand one of the printed cards to a woman, telling her: “You’re fat.” He added that the man jumped off the train after leaving the woman in tears.
The cards read “It’s really not glandular, it’s your gluttony …” before adding: “Our organisation hates and resents fat people. We object to the enormous amount of food resources you consume while half the world starves.”
An individual seen handing out one of the cards was described as an “ordinary-looking middle-aged man”.
A Facebook profile in the name of Kara Florish posted pictures of the cards, saying: “I am not upset myself, I am smaller than the national average and not exactly obese, but this is hateful and cowardly and could potentially upset people struggling with confidence and eating disorders.
“Please tweet and share this if you are also outraged. Plus, to the person who wrote this card. Go back to school, you can’t spell beautiful.”
Transport for London said that it was urging people who witnessed the cards being handed out to contact station staff or police.
Steve Burton, director of enforcement and on-street operations, said: “All of our customers have the right to travel with confidence, and this sad and unpleasant form of antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated.”