A young couple were subjected to racist abuse on a packed train by a man who 'felt paranoid' because they weren't speaking English.

The pair, who are believed to be Asian, were chatting amongst themselves in their native language when the man flipped out in front of shocked onlookers.

Disturbing footage shows the culprit shouting and swearing at them on a train from Stratford to Romford, east London, on Friday at 6.45pm.

A man flipped out at a foreign couple for not speaking in English on a train in east London

Onlookers tried to step in and defend the couple but the enraged man told them he 'felt paranoid' by their foreign language

The man says: 'F****** ex army, put up with your f****** bla bla bla,' as he mocks their language.

Commuters step in to defend the couple and a woman is heard telling the man 'it's not your country, it's everyone's who is here as well'.

Another man then gets involved and tells the culprit to shut his mouth before saying: 'He's more English than you.'

But that annoys the shouting man and the pair argue back and forth. He proceeds to call the other man a 'f****** white boy'.

A white passenger confronted him but the man attacked him calling him a 'f****** white boy'

He called another bystander a dirty little black b****** during a barrage of abuse

He continues with more racial slurs and calls another man a 'f****** black b******'.

British Transport Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

@ArianneKlarisse posted the video on Twitter on Sunday with the caption: 'On the train, I witnessed racism and it broke my heart.

The man says: 'F****** ex army, put up with your f****** bla bla bla,' as he mocks the couple's language

'A young Asian couple were talking in their language and this man did not like it because it made him 'paranoid'.

'Such a disgrace that there are people like this in the world. Respect to the white boy that defended them.'

'The white boy was against him, the horrible man proceeded to call him names and shout insults like 'you dirty little black b******'.'