Police have urged a man who claims to have been plagued by racist hoodies to talk to them about his problems.

Auet Melache, aged 37, stopped paying his council tax because he said Bolton Council was doing nothing to clear racist graffiti sprayed near his home and rubbish tipped in his garden.

The taxi driver, who moved to Britain from Eritrea in 1990, faces a court appearance next month over his £1,044 tax arrears and said he is prepared to go to prison over the issue.

Mr Melache claimed police and community support officers had also done little to help him, despite youths having thrown rocks at his windows and tipping rubbish into his garden.

But police said Mr Melache had not made any official complaints to officers.

Sgt Philip James from the Bolton East neighbourhood policing team, said: "We take all reports of hate crimes and incidents very seriously and they are all recorded and investigated.

"None of these incidents have been reported to us but if Mr Melache would like to contact us we would be more than happy to discuss his concerns.

"We work closely with Bolton Council to prioritise the removal of racist and other offensive graffiti and last week conducted a beat sweep of the Great Lever area that resulted in a range of environmental improvements."

Bolton Council has accepted that Mr Melache had some "environmental issues" but a spokesman said council tax was a property tax and not a specific charge for any particular service.

He said the council is obliged to take recovery action in relation to arrears and warned people they face final notices, court summonses, threats of imprisonment or even bankruptcy, if they refused to pay.