A woman today told how she received a 61-year-old man's passport in the post instead of her own.

Catherine Galley, 34, of Clickett Hill, Basildon, sent off her out-of-date UK passport, marriage certificate and application.

But instead of getting both documents back with a new passport she received an old passport belonging to a man from Rayleigh.

Mrs Galley said: "I was outraged. I didn't know what to think. It's frightening to think who could have got their hands on my passport - especially with all the terror and security problems that you hear about."

The worried mum-of-one tried to call the emergency contact telephone number listed on the man's passport, after realising there had been a mistake, but it was unavailable.

The bizarre mix-up came to an end when Catherine's mum, Jacqueline Dooley, 56, received a call from the Rayleigh man, who had recieved her daughter's out-of-date passport and marriage certificate.

Catherine and the man met up and exchanged passports in Pitsea market.

Mrs Galley, who needed the new passport to go on holiday to Tunisia, said: "It was lucky that we didn't live far from each other and were able to meet to make the swap.

"Otherwise, we would have had to put them back in the post and who knows where they would have ended up. I think it's terrible and am definitely going to complain."

The Passport Agency, run by the Home Office, was unable to comment on the individual case, but claimed the number of passports lost in the post had dropped by 80 per cent since 2004.