THIS was the moment Newport pensioner Victor James met the woman whose face appears on his bus pass.

Mr James, 78, from Malpas, was issued with his new 'Smartcard' by the Welsh Assembly earlier this month, but it arrived bearing the wrong photo.

In fact the face showing on Mr James' card, was that of 70-year-old, Malpas woman, Moira Marchant.

Ms Marchant had no idea her photo had been duplicated until her son told her he had seen it in yesterday's Argus.

"I had a bit of a laugh really," she said.

However, Mr James, a retired planning officer for the Welsh water board, was not in a laughing mood.

"How the heck can they do this?" he said.

"Heads should roll, this is unforgivable."

Mr James says he knows a handful of other pensioners who have also received faulty bus passes, the Assembly put the misprinted passed down to a "technical issue" and have said they're working to fix the problem.

Mr James' main fear is his photo could have be used for fraudulent purposes.

The Welsh Assembly took over the issuing of over-60s bus passes from Newport Council earlier this year and say they have already sent 25,000 to the Newport area.

A spokesman said: "We acknowledge that a technical issue has taken place and we are looking into it."