A man who claimed to have downed two litres of vodka and a cocktail of drugs, has been sentenced after assaulting a TfL member of staff, a passenger and racially abusing a British Transport Police (BTP) officer.

Ali Naimul Hoque, aged 27 and of Castleview Gardens, Ilford, appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Monday August 5, where he was handed a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 24 months.

On Sunday July 14, Hoque stumbled into Bethnal Green station, walking in a haphazard way towards the ticket barrier.

A concerned member of Transport for London (TfL) asked him to get some fresh air before travelling.

Hoque took great offence to this, barging into the staff booth and grabbing the victim by the collar and threatening to kill him.

The victim retreated into the control room and called the police, however Hoque stumbled towards the platform and in a totally unprovoked manner, punched a member of the public.

Officers were on scene and arrested Hoque, during the arrest he racially abused the BTP office a number of times, calling him a “Taliban terrorist”.

He was later charged with two counts of assault by beating and one count of a racially aggravated public order offence, which he admitted in court.

As part of his sentence, Hoque was also handed a four-week curfew with conditions to be within his home address between 8pm and 8am, which will be monitored by an electronic tag.

He was also ordered to pay £250 compensation and a £122 victim surcharge.

PC Luke Dear from BTP, said: “Hoque’s excuse of drinking excessive amounts of Vodka is inexcusable, his violent and offensive actions were totally unacceptable.

"Violence on the rail network, particularly against members of staff who are simply doing their job, will never be tolerated. I hope that this sentence acts as a clear warning to Hoque, further such behaviour will result in him spending time behind bars.”

Siwan Hayward, director of Compliance and Policing at TfL, said: “Hoque’s behaviour was disgusting and an unacceptable way to behave towards our staff and customers. Everyone has the right to go about their day without fear or intimidation and we do not tolerate any form of physical or verbal assault. We work closely with the police and their Workplace Violence Units to ensure that any assault on our staff is fully investigated and perpetrators brought to justice as quickly as possible.”

TfL and BTP take violence against staff and customers extremely seriously and jointly operate a Workplace Violence Unit, which aims to tackle workplace violence in a number of ways.

The unit identifies possible trends, supports investigation and prosecution and strives to improve the standards of after-care through the criminal justice system.