Richard Branson apologises after woman claims she was racially abused on Virgin flight

A Chinese woman who claims she was racially abused on a Virgin Atlantic flight has received an apology from Richard Branson.

Liu Wei wrote on Chinese social media site Weibo that on a London to Shanghai flight she was randomly confronted by a white man who yelled: "You f**king Chinese pig! Get the f**k out of here!"

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After her post was shared many times, Branson took to Twitter and wrote: "Really sorry to hear about an alleged incident on flight VS250. We do not tolerate abuse and @virginatlantic are investigating."

Writing on Virgin.com, he said: "We have fully investigated this incident and have spoken with all those involved, including fellow customers and the cabin crew present. There was an altercation between two customers on board the flight, a female customer and a male customer who has Parkinson's disease.

"The altercation resulted in both individuals becoming upset and distressed. Upon noticing the argument, our cabin crew did their best to resolve the situation for all customers. The passengers were moved apart into separate seats without further interaction or incident."

Sir Branson added: "Before the team was able to fully investigate the incident, one side of the story was already being shared widely online, and is generating headlines in news publications as well as social networks.

"This has resulted in allegations of racism - I reiterate that Virgin Atlantic and all Virgin companies and people take a zero tolerance approach to racism. We equally take a zero tolerance approach to discrimination against anybody due to a disability (and to all forms of discrimination)."