British Transport Police are appealing for help in identifying a youth after a train manager was the victim of homophobic abuse in Gloucestershire.

Officers have released an image of a teenager they want to speak to in connection with the incident which happened onboard a train at Kemble.

The incident took place shortly after 8pm on Saturday 2 March.

PC Frank Hedley said: “The train manager onboard the 2000hrs Swindon-Cheltenham service was checking tickets when he encountered three youths who did not have tickets.

“Two of the youths bought tickets but while the third attempted to pay using a card, it jammed in the ticket machine.

“The train manager asked the youth to write his details on a seat reservation card so that he could be contacted by the train company to recover the fare at a later date.

“However, the youth wrote a homophobic comment directed towards the train manager on the card before all three youths got off the train at Kemble station.”

PC Hedley added: “Abuse of any nature, including homophobic, towards members of rail staff is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated by BTP.”

Anyone who can identify the youth, or his current whereabouts, should contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40, or the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.