A WELDER who was told to leave the UK after a Home Office 'error' has called for the immigration system to be looked at.

Shane Ridge said he had 'lived a life of hell' after a letter from the Home Office telling him he had no 'lawful basis' to stay in the country.

As reported in the Lancashire Telegraph, Mr Ridge, 21, who has a British father and an Australian mother, received the letter out of the blue months after his application for a British passport was refused.

However Mr Ridge, of Birtwistle Avenue, Colne, received an email yesterday from the government saying the error had been ratified and and an apology was made.

Mr Ridge, who works for Kirk Environmental Ltd in Blackburn, said he fears others maybe in the same situation but may end up being deported.

He said: "I'm absolutely delighted it has been sorted out.

"I lived a life of hell and had very little sleep and barely ate during the past few days.

"It really annoyed me when after receiving so much support from the media the Home Office quickly drafted me an email saying sorry and it was a mistake, effectively brushing it under the carpet.

"There's definitely going to be people like me in a similar situation but will not have the same coverage as I did.

"They might be on their own here, frightened and might end up leaving the country which could destroy their lives.

"The process needs to be looked at so this doesn't happen again.

"We've been through every emotion in the book, we've gone from zero to 100 so fast."

Since the story broke, Mr Ridge has had messages of support from around the world and a petition lobbying the Government to halt deportation proceedings received more than 2,000 signatures in the first 24 hours.

A Home Office spokesperson said:“We have now established that Mr Ridge is automatically a British citizen.

"We have spoken with Mr Ridge to apologise for this error and the distress caused.

"When Mr Ridge applied for Right of Abode, we did not identify that his maternal grandmother was British and that as a result his mother had settled status in the UK at the time of his birth.

"We have reviewed Mr Ridge’s Right of Abode application and established that his maternal grandmother was British and that his mother was born in Australia.

"This should have led to his British citizenship being established in March 2017.

"An error on our part meant that this was not considered at the time of his application."