A Chinese student on a day-trip to Margate says he was racially abused by three teenagers who fake sneezed and shouted "coronavirus" as he walked past.

Wenbin Wu, who studies computer science and finance at King's College London, also claims one tried to pick a fight and followed him and his two companions until he got his phone out and threatened to call the police.

The 27-year-old lives in London but wanted to visit Turner Contemporary so he, his girlfriend and a friend jumped on the train for a day trip to the seaside town.

"We'd heard about the art gallery so we wanted to come to see it," he said.

"We got off the train at Margate at about 2pm and outside the station in the bus shelter were three girls.

"At first I heard fake sneezing and then laughing.

"As me and my friends passed them they shouted 'coronavirus' and laughed.

"I asked if they could repeat what they said and one girl stood up, trying to pick a fight.

"They looked like the bullying type..."

"I think these girls were about 16 and they looked like the bullying type."

Mr Wu says as he and his friends walked away one of the girls started to follow them, while swearing at them.

"I said 'I'll call the police' and they laughed so I pulled my phone out and I started recording," he said.

"I saw a little bit of change, she started to become afraid and I think that's when they started to leave.

"After the confrontation there was a man in his 30s who walked past who said 'you did the right thing'."

He admits that while his friends were ok, he was quite affected by the incident, but says they still enjoyed their trip.

"It was our first time in Margate," he said.

"The beach was great, and the view and the art gallery. We didn't want what happened to ruin the day."

The incident was reported through True Vision, an online service to report hate crimes.

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