A WELDER who was told he must leave the UK by immigration officials despite being born and bred in East Lancashire can now stay in the country.

Shane Ridge said his life was brought to a standstill when he received a letter from the Home Office telling him he had no 'lawful basis' to stay in the country.

However the Home Office has said the 21-year-old former Colne Primet Academy pupil is now a British citizen.

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."