Tony Blair received belated 50th birthday greetings today from residents of his Sedgefield constituency.

The Prime Minister, whose birthday was on Tuesday, joked about his age as he was given a hand-made birthday card, with 50 on the front, by three-year-old Jon Radley in Trimdon village.

He told the youngster, from Trimdon Green: ''There is only one thing wrong with it, it should have three on the front, not the five.''

Mr Blair was visiting the village in County Durham close to his constituency home to open a state-of-the-art Social Services call centre.

Earlier, he visited the nearby market town of Ferryhill, where he met youngsters and played pool with some of them, at a brand new Internet e-cafe.

The Prime Minister also spoke to others who were designing a local website.

But he had trouble looking at the screen and put on his glasses, saying: ''Sign of age, I get my specs out.''

At the opening of the cafe, he said he hoped its new facilities would help reduce anti-social behaviour in the area. And he hoped other towns would adopt similar ideas.

He also opened a fountain outside Ferryhill Town Council before doing a walkabout in the busy marketplace.