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A dog fouling outside of a house was one of 2,500 alleged hate crimes logged by the Metropolitan Police.

The dubious allegations was investigated by the police in 2015 and 2016, including an envelope that had been opened and resealed, a disputed line call in a tennis match and a dead rat found in a garden.

Police also logged a man telling library staff he was campaigning for Brexit and an accident involving a car that bore a Remembrance poppy.

The 2,507 alleged hate incidents were revealed after a Freedom of Information request by the The Mail on Sunday.

In the dog fouling incident, the log read: "An unknown dog has fouled outside of victim address and victim perceived this to be a racial incident."

In another case, it was suggested a barking dog was a hate crime. Police wrote: "Suspect's dog barking at victim."

(Image: Getty Images)

One man who felt he had been a victim of racial abuse reported that he "believes a letter addressed to him was opened and then resealed before he had collected it from the Post Office."

Other complaints include a person who felt a bus driver had given them a "racist look" and a woman who was thrown out of a pub for being "drunk, aggressive and erratic" but told police she had been targeted "because she is Polish".

An angry father called police after his daughter lost a tennis match to complain about a racist umpire. The incident log read: "Informant feels his daughter was subjected to racial discrimination at a tennis match where line calls went against her."

And a pupil struggling in a swimming lesson reported his teacher for "faith-based abuse" after he spoke to him in an "abrupt manner".

Disputes between neighbours were a common trend. One entry said a witness "has had parking issues with her next-door neighbour, their children apparently throw stones and balls over the garden fence. Witness has recently found a dead rat in garden and perceives this to be racist."

One man claimed his neighbours were parking only outside his house and were "targeting him due to being black". On another occasion, a resident in a block of flats reported a neighbour was racially abusing them by "smoking heavily".

One entry says: "Victim on hearing her neighbours in their house has put her ear up to their door to hear what they are talking about. In a conversation they have referred to her as [redacted] and made remarks of trying to get her moved out."

Another incident log said: "Unknown suspect has reversed into victim's car causing extensive damage. Victim perceives to be a hate crime as she had a poppy in front of her car."

Current rules mean police have to record any allegation described as motivated by prejudice as a hate incident, even if it is not serious enough to be regarded as a crime.

Earlier this month Anthony Stansfield, the police commissioner for Thames Valley, revealed that an elderly woman had to be questioned as a hate criminal after beeping her car horn at a black driver who she felt was "taking ages" at a petrol station.

Official figures published in October revealed hate crimes had soared over the past year, but it only takes into account those reported to police.

Nearly 2,000 incidents are reported every week, a rise of 17 per cent compared to last year.

According to the Home Office, there were 94,098 hate crimes recorded in 2017-18.