Pretty soon, this will be so common it won’t even be news: Attack victim claims police told her to dye hair.

The 20-year-old, who was hospitalised after the attack by four men in which she was beaten and robbed, told Heute newspaper: “I felt so helpless.”

“I had been standing on the platform waiting for the train when a man came up to me and spoke to me in a foreign language. He then started putting his hands through my hair and made it clear that in his cultural background there were hardly any blonde women. I told him to go away, and for a short while he really did go away.”

“But it was only to get his pals and a bit later he came back with three others. They stole my handbag and my cards.”

And if that was not enough, she said that the four had then attacked her, bashing her to the ground in a rage before running off.

She said that from what they had said she understood they were from Afghanistan and that as she lay on the floor in agony nobody on the platform had helped.

After being treated at hospital for bruising to her head, shoulder and elbow as well as her spine and hips, she went to police.

And her distress had turned to anger when police had told her that she should change her hair colour and should not have been travelling alone after 8pm on public transport.

Which really means they cannot think of a thing to do to protect her.