Celebrations were restrained after an elderly couple discovered they were entitled to a refund on their television licence - for only 1p.

Thomas and Kathleen Farrant, of Orient Road, Lancing, fell about laughing after receiving a letter from TV Licensing informing them of their unexpected windfall.

Mr Farrant, 76, said: "It's absolutely ridiculous.

"It can hardly be worth sending out the letter and paying for the stamp.

"After all the rubbish they put on television at the moment and the constant repeats we are shown I would have thought they would be doing all they could to save the pennies."

Mr and Mrs Farrant, who have two children and four grandchildren, were entitled to the refund following a new Government initiative offering free television licences to anyone aged over 75.

Since the couple pay their for their licence via direct debit it was discovered they would have paid over the odds by the time the free licence was available on November 1.

A letter was sent to the couple on Tuesday informing them their bank account would soon be credited with the amount of £0.01p.

Mr Farrant, a former motor technician, said: "When my wife opened the letter she couldn't stop laughing.

"It's a joke. They needn't have bothered with wasting their time and money."

Ben Ruse, a spokesman for TV Licensing, said by November Mr and Mrs Farrant would have paid £79.50 when they should have only paid £79.49.

Normally the difference would be taken into account with their fourth quarter payment but the new free licence offer meant they would not now be making this final payment.

He added: "We are legally obliged to make the 1p refund and to pay for any of the costs.

"I accept it is a bizarre amount but where do we draw the line?

"If we were to keep 1p refunds from all our 25 million customers there would be a scandal.

"We pay customers what we owe them whether it is 1p or not.

"Of course it cost us more than a penny to refund the money but that's the law."