A 67-YEAR-old pensioner described his shock at getting call-up papers for Army service in the Gulf - 40 years after he was rejected from the forces on health grounds.

The letter, bearing a Ministry of Defence letterhead and ordering Ken Johnson to report within days or face severe penalties, turned out to an elaborate hoax - but he was not seeing the funny side of it.

Mr Johnson, of Langley Park, County Durham, said he had been upset when he was turned away from the Army on health grounds as an 18-year-old air cadet.

He said: "Getting this letter wasn't funny. If I had been younger and didn't know any better I may have travelled to Oxfordshire to report for duty."

The letter addressed to Mr Johnson says: "As you are aware the United Kingdom is currently at war in the Middle East.

"Our forces are currently working at maximum capacity and we therefore need further ex- personal posted out to the Gulf."

Mr Johnson was ordered to report to Brize Norton within days for "immediate despatch to a Coalition Force retraining camp in Kuwait City as a tank operator".

He said: "My suspicions were aroused when I noticed it did not have a contact telephone number or travel details on it.

"So I caught a bus to the recruitment centre in Durham City to check it out. I was told when I got there I had been had.

"I have no idea who the culprit is. But if I ever find out, I'll wring their necks."