Virgin Mobile has caused hundreds of customers to leap out their chairs in the last few days as a company notice sent to their homes in an envelope has been opened to reveal a strange white powder.

Despite UK citizens being nowhere near the state of anthrax panic that the tabloids have reported we are in, several readers have been in touch to say their heart missed a beat when they opened it.

The actual company bumf was a leaflet purporting to answer customers' queries about the company, such as: "I read that the European commission raided your offices. What was that all about?" and: "I sometimes have problems with the network, Is there something you can do about it?"

It doesn't appear that the question: "Why have you retained all my data including the location of my phone from the day you started two years ago when all other companies destroy their records after a maximum of a year?" however. But more of that recent revelation in a later story.

The other question is: does this count as a hoax and if so does that mean Sir Richard Branson is going to be banged up for seven years? ®