In an ironic turn of events an Australian backpacker was told she could not rent a flat in Edinburgh because people from her country are ‘drunks and racists’.
According to The Daily Mail Laura Gratton, originally from Melbourne, answered an advert for the £400-a-month room advertised on spareroom.co.uk and inquired about the possibility of living there after visiting the Scottish capital and falling in love with the historic city.
To her shock, the landlord immediately turned down her request replying:
Outraged at the response, the 24-year-old replied to him saying:
You obviously are quite racist putting such labels and speculations on a whole race without knowing the individual. So thank you for rejecting this email, I don’t think we would get along at all. And I suggest you actually visit Australia and realise how multicultural we are.
However the argument didn’t end there as the hypocritical landlord then sent her a link to a news report about racism in Australia, adding:
It is fact Australia is the most racist nation, your people are so open about it as well. This is what you Australians are known for in Europe. I think we would still get along by the way. Anyway, good luck.
Miss Gratton told The Daily Mail:
When I first received the response I thought it was just a joke but then I realised that he was being serious. I have heard the odd joke about drinking to do with Australians or Irish people but it has only ever been jokes among friends, never anything intended to hurt like this.
Miss Gratton’s sentiment were echoed by spareroom.co.uk who said that if they’d spotted anything like that in someone’s advert they would take it down immediately, while a spokesperson added “Dismissing a whole nation as racist is, frankly, ridiculous.”
