London: Araf Saddiq, the first South Asian and Muslim employee of the Scottish Ambulance Service, has spoken about the years of racist harassment he experienced at work.

The Daily Record newspaper reported that the 57-year-old paramedic from Chapelhall in Lanarkshire, who was born in the UK to Pakistani parents, expressed pride in being the first person of his background to join the service. Saddiq claimed that despite his efforts to support his community, he frequently faced racist abuse.

"It happens in different ways — people won't look at you or talk to you, even if you are the attending clinician; you are asking the questions but they won't look at you," he said to the newspaper.

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Numerous racist slurs have been directed at me. But about eleven years ago, I was attacked.

In 2010, a man Saddiq was transporting to the hospital referred to as a "terrorist" and then attacked him.

"I took a person into the hospital and attended to him," he said. "He didn't say much in the ambulance, but after I got him through the doors, inside the hospital, and seated on a chair, he just turned around and called me a 'black, terrorist b******.'"

"I started to laugh, and before I knew it, he was kicking and punching me in A&E off of his chair. My coworker jumped in and attempted to get him off, but I sustained some injuries. I hurt my knee and dislocated my shoulder. It was a pretty vicious attack, and because you think all kinds of things afterward, it had an impact on me for a while.

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"Even though I was taking care of him and caring for him, this guy had such a hatred for my race that he attacked me and would have used a knife if he had one. I took a two-year career break because I had a young family and those kinds of thoughts go through your head.

That demonstrates how deeply it affected me. I've never understood hatred like that or how someone could despise you just because of your race.

After the attack, Saddiq's wife, Aysha, a teacher, received an offer to work for the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Education, so he relocated to the UAE with her and their kids. A few years later, they made their way back to Scotland.

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I was very depressed at the time, he admitted. I took care of the kids, but after two years, I was eager to get back to work.

For his volunteer work in the community, Saddiq received the Queen's Ambulance Medal in the 2021 New Year's Honours.