A PENSIONER who received a letter saying his wife of 55 years had died has finally managed to convince pension officials that she is alive and well after the SNJ intervened to help.

Joseph Vick, 80, was sent a letter last month from the Department of Work and Pensions, informing him that he was entitled to a £2,000 bereavement payment following the ‘death’ of his wife, Barbara, 76.

He immediately contacted the agency to inform them of the error and was assured the matter would be dealt with straight away.

Two weeks later the couple, from Elcombe near Uley, noticed Barbara’s pension had been stopped and that the £2,000 sum had been deposited into Mr Vick’s bank account.

He made a second call to the agency and was again promised the situation would be resolved - by which point Mrs Vick had been denied her pension for some six weeks.

"I just cannot get my head around why this letter was sent to me," said Mr Vick, who served in the armed forces for 12 years and is a member of the Dursley branch of the Royal British Legion.

"The first person I spoke to from the DWP asked whether we knew anyone who had died on Christmas Eve, it was ridiculous.

"Someone has clearly made a big blunder.

"We were both very upset to receive this letter and I thought the DWP would have written straight away to apologise for the mistake."

Mrs Vick, who used to work as a printing assistant, added: "I felt very upset for Joseph. It was a very unpleasant experience for us to go through."

The couple, who have four children and two grandchildren, were eventually contacted by the DWP yesterday, Tuesday, after they approached the SNJ last week asking for assistance.

Officials acknowledged the mistake and Mrs Vick’s pension has been resumed.

A DWP spokesman said: "We have apologised to Mr and Mrs Vick and have now repaid and reinstated all benefits."

Mr and Vick will now return the £2,000 bereavement sum.