But Jemma Walton met one immigrant worker who is one of the most useful public servants the city has.

Petr Torak was in his home town of Prague the other day when someone told him that they would kill all Roma gypsies if they could. Petr quickly decided it was perhaps best if he didn't mention that he was a Roma.

And what they are saying came as no surprise to him: he fled the Czech Republic to seek asylum in England after Petr and his mum were beaten up in the street by skinheads, and their family was tormented for being the way they were.

"In a lot of parts of the world, the Roma have been hated throughout history," he said. "And the Roma have turned to stealing and not bothering to try to live with the settled community because it's just not worth it, which makes the problem even worse.

"When I read articles that have appeared about me on the internet back there you can scroll down to the comments people have left at the bottom of the story and see really nasty racist abuse, because I am a Roma.

"But I don't think that hatred towards Roma exists in the UK. I think people here are more tolerant."

Tolerance is something that has characterized the British people for hundreds of years, and in his book The English, Jeremy Paxman said that tolerance, rather than fish and chips or Wimbledon, was what made us English.

Petr (27) estimates that there are currently about 4,000 Roma living in Peterborough, and he comes into contact with some of them while working as a police community support officer, a job that demands tolerance, patience and a strong sense of community values.

He came to the UK as an asylum seeker in 1999, and was dispersed to Southend-on-Sea. But in May 2000, he came to live in Peterborough, also with his parents, and decided he wanted to give something back to the country that granted him refugee status, and saved him from persecution.

He stood as a candidate for Labour in the 2005 elections, and when he didn't win his seat he decided to help his community in a different way, and signed up to be a police community support officer (PCSO).

What is his favourite part of the job?

He smiles: "It's difficult to say because I love it all, from A to Z. I love talking to people, and I get to do a lot of that. I and another PCSO, Linas Pekarskas, who is from Lithuania and speaks Lithuanian and Russian, are based mainly in Millfield, and I think what we do there makes a real difference to the community.

"As well as English I can speak Czech, Slovakian, Polish and Portuguese, and I am learning Roma and Russian."

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Special Report: The future of Peterborough: Immigration in the city