A HOAX racist letter claiming to be from Bolton's housing department has been turning up at addresses around the country.

The letter, on department headed notepaper, has been sent to individuals as a practical joke claiming Asian families are being sent to live with recipients.

So far two copies of the letter have turned up, one in Horwich and one in Leicester, but council officials believe there may be more which they have not been informed of.

"We are treating this matter extremely seriously," said a spokesman.

"No one should be subjected to abuse such as this. We believe people will find it deeply upsetting that these racist remarks are on what appears to be genuine Council notepaper especially when we have worked very hard to foster good relationships with ethnic communities throughout Bolton.

"We would urge anyone who receives the letter to destroy it." An internal investigation revealed the letters did not come off the council's standard template and officials believe they could have been produced by someone using computer equipment to copy the headed notepaper.

"Close examination shows that there are certain aspects of the letterhead which have been tampered with," said a council spokesman.

"We have also carried out a search of our computer systems but could find no trace of any correspondence such as this."

"We are not happy about anyone writing racist letters but it is even more unacceptable when it they use council notepaper to do it."