Gheorghe Hus, 65, from Timisoara, applied for the card when he was making preparations to visit his son in Italy.

He said: "They told me I died in 1994 because of some lung disease. It seems I even had an autopsy made and I was buried in a nearby town."

An official investigation revealed that the confusion was caused by a police report regarding a man with the same name who died in hospital.

Mr Hus now has to wait now until a court cancels his death certificate before he can get a new ID card.

Woo Hoo! No tax or N.I. for nearly 15 years!

The queue for the ID card didn't help...

The original was here