An unnamed electronics company in Arnhem hit the headlines on Wednesday after mistakenly sending a rejected job hopeful an email saying he was ‘nothing’ because of his ‘dark colour’.

Jeffrey Koorndijk of Deventer was shocked to get an internal email reacting to his application which read: ‘I’ve had a quick look, is nothing. Firstly a dark colour (negro). And little experience with computers on his cv.’

The shop owner, Mike de Wilde, has since apologised to Koorndijk, saying ‘we made a major error. We wish to distance ourselves from all forms of racism.’

The worker who sent the mail will get an appropriate punishment, ‘whatever that is’, De Wilde told local broadcaster Omroep Nederland.