Richard gets a shock from mystery woman

Richard Williams was surprised when he received his first senior citizen's concessionary fare pass in
March with the photo of an unknown woman next to his name.

But after complaining to Runnymede Council, Mr Williams, from The Gower, finally received a replacement
on Saturday - only to find that the same woman's photo was still attached.

The 67-year-old, who has been using a temporary pass while the council tries to resolve the error, said: "I
couldn't believe it when I saw a lady's picture on my card. I would have thought they would have noticed
immediately it was a man's name."

Mr Williams, a retired chief chemistry technician at Royal Holloway, University of London,
added: "It's more funny than anything else, especially after I complained and then got the same pass back
again. I haven't got a clue who she is, but I wonder if my photo is on hers."

Head of community services at Runnymede Council, Andrew Cryer, said: "The first time it happened
it was our error, mainly due to the sheer number of passes we issue each year. Unfortunately, when we
tried to correct the mistake by sending another photo to the company Novacroft, which produces the passes
in Northampton, it ran off the same photo as it used before."

He added that another pass had been put in the post for Mr Williams and said that of the 10,000 processed
by the council every year, only two were printed wrongly, including Mr Williams'.