POLICE are investigating a racist attack after a take-away was sprayed with graffiti and a delivery car used by the owners had its windows smashed.

The first incident saw the words Support Terrorism By Here daubed on the steel shutters of Pizza Time, Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, in black paint.

Police noticed the words while out on a routine patrol. They believe they were painted on between 2am and 6.30am last Wednesday.

The second incident took place just four days later when a vandal smashed all the windows of the white Vauxhall Corsa which is used by the business as a delivery car.

Police say a passer-by noticed a man approach the vehicle at just after midnight on Sunday and smash the glass with a wooden implement while it was parked on Pickup Street.

Sergeant Mark Goodchild said: "These were appalling attacks which we will not tolerate in our society. They were also unusual in Clayton as the area has good racial harmony.

"We have put our resources including our community beat teams into investigating these incidents and we have some forensic evidence from the vehicle. We are treating these incidents as racially-motivated."

Police added that staff had suffered racial abuse several weeks ago when two white men entered the shop and smashed the glass, causing shards to fly into the face of one worker and the arm of another.

Both men, from the Blackburn area, have since been arrested.