Great Yarmouth Borough Council has apologised to a Gorleston man, after a clerical error left him unable to cast his vote in the general election.

When James Suttie went to the Cliff Hotel to exercise his democratic right, he was told he was unable to do so because his name had already been crossed out.

In a statement, the council said: 'We take seriously any voting issues and have apologised directly to Mr Suttie. The inspector for that polling station spoke with him at the time and took great efforts in investigating and attempting to resolve the matter during polling hours.

'Unfortunately, it was not ultimately possible to ascertain for certain why his name had been crossed out previously, and he was offered a tendered vote in line with national guidance.'

Mr Suttie said his democratic right had been denied by the error and called for polling stations to start asking for ID from voters on arrival.

He said: 'The system needs to change. I lost my right to vote because somebody wrongly and probably accidently put a pencil line through my name. Where is the democracy in that?'