LONDON (AFP) - The British police stepped in on Monday (Nov 30) after a woman on London's Underground metro system was handed a card calling her a "fat, ugly human".

Health worker Kara Florish said in a tweet the card she was given on the Underground was "hateful" and "cowardly" and "could potentially upset people struggling with confidence".

She tweeted a picture of the card, which on one side said "fat" and on the other read: "Our organisation hates and resents fat people. We object to the enormous amount of food resources you consume while half the world starves."

The message continued: "And we do not understand why you fail to grasp that by eating less you will be better off, slimmer, happy and find a partner who is not a perverted chubby-lover, or even find a partner at all."

The card, purportedly from a group called Overweight Haters Ltd, triggered a social media storm and prompted the police to urge anyone else who has received one to get in touch.

"All of our customers have the right to travel with confidence, and this sad and unpleasant form of anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated," said Transport for London's Steve Burton.