A 52-year-old from Watford has been arrested after video footage was posted on YouTube that showed a man, who claimed to be a soldier, using 'racist language', on a Tube train in London.

The unnamed person can be seen in the video launching an expletive-ridden racist attack in which he refers to the Japanese as a "vicious bunch of f****** c****" and claims that his uncle died in the River Kwai during World War II.

He is confronted by a man filming the incident, which took place on a Bakerloo line train on Tuesday, after pointing his finger at a female passenger and being heard to say: "Get yourself off the train, get yourself off the train. You’re nasty people, yeah? F*** off, get out of my country. Sayonara."

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The footage shows the argument continuing to escalate despite attempts by the Tube passenger filming him to calm the man down, at one point he asks the person videoing him where he comes from.

The passenger replies: ‘Does it matter, really? Are you going to start sorting everyone on the train, man, one by one? What have you got against the Japanese?

‘She didn’t kill your relatives, did she? Why is she going to apologise, what has she done to you?’

The man, who is seen drinking from what appears to be a bottle of wine, then can be heard saying: "I’m ex-Parachute Regiment. What do you know about history? Why do you f****** jabber when you know nothing? Shut up. You know two-thirds of f*** all."

British Transport Police (BTP) said today that the man was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.

"An investigation was launched after we were made aware of a YouTube clip of a man using racist language on board a Bakerloo line train," police said.

The BTP said this afternoon that the man had been "bailed pending further police enquiries, until 30 Oct."

The incident is reminiscent of other racist outbursts that gained public attention after people videoed them on their mobile phones.

Last year Jacqueline Woodhouse was jailed for a total of 21 weeks after she hurled persistent racist abuse at fellow Tube travellers.