A DISTRAUGHT man who is going blind has been refused a passport, despite living in Britain for more than 50 years.

Geoffrey Thomas, 63, of Kirby Road, Walton, was born in India, but moved to England from Bangalore with the rest of his family in 1961 when he was ten years old.

So Mr Thomas has paid UK taxes all his life and has a National Insurance number, so he was stunned when the Home Office said he did not qualify for a British passport.

Full story in today's Clacton, Frinton and Walton Gazette