A MAN seen by thousands of people on a social media video shouting racist abuse and then being chased through Swindon town centre has been told to do 150 hours of unpaid work.

The footage showing Thomas Hayes, 26, went viral on Facebook after the incident on August 30 and made national headlines.

When he appeared before District Judge Simon Cooper at Swindon Magistrates' Court yesterday he admitted a racially aggravated charge of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour with intent to cause fear of or provoke unlawful violence.

Crown prosecutor Pauline Lambert said police were called to reports of men fighting in Regent Street and a number of black men chasing another man through the street.

Officers found Hayes near the Tesco Metro store, shirtless and with a cut to his eye. He told them he didn’t want to make a complaint.

They later saw video footage posted to Facebook showing him racially abusing a group of black men.

“At the time the street was very busy with shoppers,” she told the court.

Interviewed by police, Hayes said he had been drinking Carlsberg lager and Jaegers with a friend and that he wasn’t a regular drinker.

“The mobile phone footage that was on Facebook went viral. It had 90,000 views, hundreds of comments and more than 1,000 shares,” she said.

In it Hayes, of Warneford Close, could be heard shouting obscenities and racist abuse.

Hayes had previous convictions including drink-driving and driving while disqualified, which had resulted in a custodial sentence.

Mark Glendinning, defending, said: “Mr Hayes was very remorseful in the police station.”

He had just completed his last meeting with the probation service that afternoon. He met a friend in town and they went for a drink.

“He consumed a quantity of alcohol, far more than he has currently been drinking,” said Mr Glendinning.

The warehouse packer was not sure what had started the disagreement with the other men.

District Judge Simon Cooper told Hayes that having got into trouble just after finishing his community order he “must feel a bit of a fool.”

He added: “I have been involved in discrimination laws in this country since 1972. I’m disappointed frankly that the attitude of young people has not changed and the default position is to use abusive language in public.”

He ordered Hayes to pay £85 prosecution costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

As he left the dock Hayes turned to the judge and said: “I would just like to say I’m sorry to the public.”