A COUNCIL has been left red-faced after sending out postal votes with the wrong return address.

Durham County Council has apologised after residents in the Teesdale village of Ovington complained their votes would be sent to Northumberland and therefore not count in the election.

David Collingwood, the council’s electoral services manager, said: “We were made aware that a resident in the Ovington area who had requested a postal vote had been issued with a pack containing an envelope with an incorrect return address.

“We contacted the print company responsible for distributing our postal vote packs and were informed that due to an error on its part, the incorrect return envelopes had been sent to all 22 people who had registered for a postal vote in the Ovington area.”

Mr Collingwood said all affected candidates had been notified of the mistake and new postal vote packs had been issued.

He added: “We’d like to apologise to these residents and can assure them that their votes will be counted if received by 10pm on polling day.”