Hundreds of EU referendum postal voting packs have reportedly gone missing, prompting a local authority to launch an investigation.

Durham County Council said it has informed the Electoral Commission and local police of 457 voting packs that have disappeared. The packs were intended for people either living abroad or on holiday during the referendum, with voters raising fears they will now not be able to return their votes in time.

The Northern Echo quotes Trevor Thompson, a former resident of County Durham who has emigrated to Australia, as saying: “I voted in the referendum in the early 1970s and after spending most of my life living and working under the result of that referendum was passionate about having my vote in the upcoming referendum.

“It looks as if I have been denied this right.”

“Both my wife and myself checked several weeks ago to make sure we were registered to vote on this issue and were assured everything was in hand and we registered,” he added. “I am fuming over it.”

A spokeswoman for Durham County Council’s referendum counting office said: “Following an internal investigation, we concluded that the ballot packs had been printed and issued as planned by our external contractors, but had not been delivered to the recipients.”

“On Tuesday those ballots, which had been issued on May 23, were invalidated and fresh packs re-issued.

“We understand that some of these packs have now been delivered and that the rest should follow in the coming days.”

The missing packs are the latest blow for the increasingly controversial voting process in Britain’s referendum.

Breitbart London revealed last night how the government is specifically targeting under-35s in its drive to get more people to register to vote – a demographic seen as primarily pro-Remain.

Screenshots show that the Prime Minister is using his own tax payer funded Facebook page to target younger voters, meaning his claim to simply be trying to register as many people to vote as possible is false.

The UK government website that deals with voter registration has seen a 2.5 million surge in voter registrations in the past 30 days, higher than at any General Election.