A woman today hit out at a holiday company that sent her a letter with the words "official evacuation notice" printed on its envelope.

Patty Morris, of Waverley Road, Benfleet, said she had been scared by the letter which arrived at her home yesterday.

The 78-year-old found the letter, from a company called Eclipse, lying on the mat when she went to collect her post.

Mrs Morris said: "It gave me a bit of a jolt. I am not a stupid person but it still gave me a fright. There are quite a few old people who live around here. I can just imagine what it would do to some of them.

"From what I can see it was delivered with the mail. It was not addressed specifically to anyone. It just says 'to the occupier.' This is going to have a nasty effect on elderly people like myself who were evacuated in the war.

"When I opened the letter I found it was from a holiday company. I was incensed."

Essex Trading Standards said they had not received any complaints about the letter but urged people not to be worried.

A spokesman said: "A lot of mail of this type that comes through people's letterboxes is marketing material. They should try not to get too concerned.

"There is a mailing preference service available to the public which allows them to have their name removed from most mailing lists in the country. This can be done by calling 0345 034599."

Eclipse, based in Sussex, was unavailable for comment.

Marching orders - Patty was shocked to see "evacuation orders" lying on her doormat

Picture: MIKE BELLENIE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.