A NEWPORT mum who accidentally lost her sons' Wales Euro 2016 football tickets has spoken of her anguish at the blunder.

Gillian Ravenscroft bought a purple Pierre Cardin cabin bag before travelling to see the lifelong Wales fans, raised locally but now living in Australia, only to decided it wasn’t big enough.

The 67-year-old returned the bag to Cwmbran TK Maxx store and excitedly flew out to see them - only to realise she had left the treasured tickets in the unwanted bag for safe keeping.

Speaking of her horror, Mrs Ravenscroft said: “I went to get them out the case and they weren’t there.

“At first I thought they might have been in my other bag, but then it dawned on me I had returned them by accident.”

To make matters worse the bag has now been sold on, while efforts get the tickets re-issued by the Union of European Football (UEFA) have fallen flat.

The tickets would have seen Leon and Gary Ravenscroft watch Wales take on Slovakia and Russia.

As the Argus reported yesterday, the brothers have said they have each invested more than 30 years of support for Wales, having watched games from when they were young children.

Mrs Ravenscroft added: “It was so disappointing and it was awful as they are such big football fans.

“I am just keeping my fingers crossed that someone will rescue my tickets.”

Leon, aged 43, said: “I couldn’t wait for the tickets to arrive. And then they didn’t.

“Months of planning, organising for a trip of a lifetime, and now it looks like I will be going all that way to sit in a cafe, with a soggy baguette and a black coffee.”

His brother Gary, 46, has said he also can’t believe what had happened.

“To get so close after all these years and to lose the tickets in these circumstances is very disappointing,” he added.

Mrs Ravenscroft said she couldn't understand how she had not realised the mistake sooner.

She said: “I usually write a list of what I need before I go away, and the tickets were on that list, but this still happened.”

Both brothers are due to fly to France for the games in June, but are still holding out hope that someone will come forward with more information about the tickets.

Did you or someone you know buy the purple Pierre Cardin bag with the Ravenscroft’s tickets? Call us on 01633 777226.