16929THE Turkish owner of a fast food restaurant claims he has called the police 30 times in the past year and a half as a result of racist attacks.

Burhan Aydin, 29, who owns the Chicken Hut, in Union Street, Melksham, plans to sell up shop and move away from what he says is the most racist town he has known.

Mr Aydin, who grew up in Turkey, moved to Melksham from London with his brother in January last year, and said the town is more racist than the capital.

He said: "We have been receiving racist attacks by people living in town because we are foreigners.

He claims once the words "Murder You" were written on their car door and on a separate occasion a man ran into a pub and gathered people together to come and beat them up.

He said their car has been damaged twice, costing up to £1,000, and a window at the back of the shop was smashed, costing £1,300 to repair.

They have put up four security cameras in the shop for protection.

Mr Aydin, 29, said: "I lived in London for about nine years before I moved here. Everyone would expect London to be more racist against foreign people than other towns but I have never known so many racist people in one town in my life.

"It's not that all of the people living here are racist but I think there are quite a lot of uneducated people who live in this town.

"Until I came to Melksham we never had any racism against me.

"The police try to do their best. They always come as quickly as they can but once they go away the kids just come back."

He now plans to sell the shop and return to London, where he used to own a coffee shop.

He said most of his staff had left because of the trouble from young people in the town, which worsens on a Friday and Saturday night.

Mr Aydin and his brother have come under fire in the past few weeks for parking their delivery car outside the takeaway restaurant.

He said: "We have to park it there to run our business. Shops keep closing down in this town.

"Half our business is done by delivery and it would ruin our business if we could not park it there. This town has got more serious problems than just us parking our car outside our shop."

Town councillor Davina Griffin, who lives in Union Street, said: "I'm very sad. I'm just appalled. That's a terrible thing to think about a community and I'm horrified if that's what he feels."

She said she plans to talk to the town council about the issue of racism in the town to see how best to address it.