HOSPITAL bosses have stepped up security after BNP activists left leaflets showing the controversial cartoon of the prophet Muhammad on vehicles in their car parks.

The BNP has already been criticised this week by MPs and the Lancashire Council of Mosques for posting the campaign leaflet to homes in Colne and Blackburn.

Now its members have left hundreds of copies of the cartoons which no British papers have published on car windscreens at Blackburn Royal Infirmary and Queen's Park Hospital.

Jo Cubbon, chief executive of the Blackburn hospitals, said: "These were removed immediately by security staff. Security and car parking staff will continue to regularly check car parks to make sure this does not happen again.

"I take incidents of this kind very seriously and would emphasise that, in common with the rest of the NHS, this trust does not allow any political party to campaign on our premises.

"I would ask any members of the public who find such information to help us by reporting it immediately to hospital security staff.

"We are working with the local constabulary minorities team to achieve a speedy resolution to this issue."

A 26-year-old visiting his father at the infirmary on Wednesday found one of the leaflets on his car. He said: "I was already upset but having this thrust on to my car has really sickened me.

"It's disgusting to think these people are preying on vulnerable people at the time they are visiting loved ones. This has showed the party up for what they really are."

Phill Edwards, press officer for the BNP, said: "We are keen to get out our message and I think it is quite pathetic that people are complaining.

"We don't wish to offend anyone and I think anyone who is offended should pull themselves together. I was offended by the Muslims who were pictured threatening to kill the non- believers."

Det Sgt Mark Whelan, from Blackburn's minorities team, said: "We have been made of aware of the leaflets being distributed in some areas of Blackburn and inquiries are now under way to establish whether or not the content of the leaflet is illegal."

The cartoons sparked outrage in the Muslim world after they were printed in a Danish newpaper.