A woman opened her new passport – to see a picture of her husband staring back at her.

Bungling officials made the error when Terence and Marilyn Walker sent off their passports for renewal.

The couple say they are stunned at the blunder.

Mrs Walker, 67, a retired school dinner supervisor, said: “I was flabbergasted. I thought I had picked up my husband’s passport by accident and then I saw it said Marilyn Walker.

“I couldn’t believe they would make such a simple mistake.”

The latest British passports feature an array of security features, including holograms, intricate watermarks and laser-printed dots.

Unfortunately, the system still appears prone to human error.

Mr Walker, 71, a retired engineer, said: “I thought they would check and double check our details before sending out new passports.

“If they can’t pick up mistakes like this, anyone could be applying with false details without getting picked up.”

The great-grandparents, from Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, have family living as far away as Australia and are planning a number of trips.

They sent off their forms, photographs and the £78 renewal fee to the passport office in Liverpool last month.

Mr Walker’s passport was correctly processed but when his wife spoke to officials about the mix-up with her documents, she was ordered to complete her form again and send new pictures.

She said: “It makes me wonder what’s happened to my pictures. They could now be on someone else’s passport.”

The Immigration and Passport Service, an off-shoot of the Home Office, is investigating the blunder.

But a spokeswoman claimed mix-ups were rare.

She said: “Mistakes are rare, but these errors should not have happened and I hope that Mrs Walker will accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused as a result.”

Official figures show there are errors with nearly 13,000 of the 5.4m passports issued each year.