Broad Street doorman honoured with award as racist abuser faces jail

A Broad Street doorman has been presented with a top award for his professionalism in dealing with a racially abusive customer.

Thousands saw Tristan Price being verbally abused by Sharna Walker outside the Figure of Eight in a video that went viral.

Walker pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court yesterday (September 29) and could be jailed. She has also been barred from all the pubs and clubs on Broad Street,.

Mr Price, a personal trainer who won two British powerlifting championships in 2018 and 2019, did not retaliate against his 24-year-old abuser and calmly continued to do his duties.

National Pubwatch, a voluntary organisation set up to promote best practice through supporting the work of local Pubwatch Schemes, has presented him with the Star Award for his work.

Mr Price said: “I wasn’t expecting an award, so it’s come as a lovely surprise. Fortunately, I haven’t experienced a lot of racial abuse while working, so it came as a shock.

“But the best way to manage situations of this nature is to not rise to the bait and just do your job as well as you can, which is to keep people safe.”

Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID, which manages Birmingham’s ‘golden mile’ in and around Broad Street, said: “Tristan’s calm response to this incident is a great example of the professional staff we have working on Westside and we’re very proud of him.

“This was a shocking and ugly incident that we condemned at the time.

“As a BID, working with our security partners and West Midlands Police, we simply will not tolerate such appalling racism and the fact that the judicial system is taking the case so seriously will help to drive that home to everyone.”

Trevor Pepper, West Midlands representative for National Pubwatch, explained that Star Awards are only offered to those whose outstanding work supports the nighttime economy.

He said: “Tristan is an outstanding role model and richly deserves this award.  It was very upsetting to watch the video of the [alleged] abuse he had to endure and I’m glad that the female perpetrator is facing charges. He really is a star!”

Jason Thorndycraft, director of operations at Professional Security, which nominated Tristan for the award, said: “Tristan really lived up to the ‘professional’ in our name and all of us at Professional Security are thrilled for him.  He is an outstanding ambassador for our industry.”

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