HOUSING company GreenSquare has apologised to families in Colerne after accidentally sending a letter accusing their children of vandalism.

The letter to residents living in Tower Close reads: “I have received a number of complaints about football being played out in the street, causing damage to cars and property despite clear signage that ball games should not be played.

“If children are committing crime or causing anti-social behaviour, parents will be treated as responsible for it unless they take action to tackle the behaviour and stop it.”

People living the street were left upset by the claims and took to Facebook to vent their confusion.

Beth Edwards said: “Can't believe the letter I opened this morning what a load of rubbish and lies!! Our street is always clean and tidy and the only children to play out the front is my girls on their roller boots.”

Erica Chamberlain, of Tower Close, added: “We pride on where we live and in the ten years we have been here we always keep our street clean and tidy, our children have never damaged anyone's property or caused any harm to anybody.”

However, the address on the letter sparked even more confusion as instead of the county being Wiltshire it said Oxfordshire and recommended crime be reported to Thames Valley Police.

GreenSquare have confirmed the letter was sent to the residents by mistake.

Jenny Spoor, head of neighbourhoods at the company, said: "We’d like to apologise to the residents who received this letter, which was printed and sent out to four properties in error. We will be contacting each household individually to say sorry for any distress and confusion the letter has caused."