A former master of Brighton's West Pier has been called up to fight for his country - at the age of 80.

Grandfather Joe Steer got the shock of his life when papers arrived from the Ministry of Defence ordering him to pack his kit and prepare for possible war in Iraq.

The pensioner, originally from Warbleton, near Heathfield, East Sussex, is a highly-decorated soldier, although he last saw action at the Battle of El Alamein in the Second World War.

He now walks with a stick and is more used to meals-on-wheels than army rations.

The MoD mix-up left him "flabbergasted".

"I got the letter and it had On Her Majesty's Service on the front," he said.

"I opened it and it had my name and number on the letter and told me to report at Guildford barracks.

"I was flabbergasted really.

"I've had enough of the sand. And I'm a bit too old for that sort of thing now."

Mr Steer was flattered by the request to defend his Queen and country but admits his motorised wheelchair lags a bit behind the pace of modern warfare.

He said: "I'm a bit past my prime and war is too hi-tech today. I'm used to rifles and machine guns, not missiles."

Widower Mr Steer, who now lives in Rainworth, Nottinghamshire, sealed the envelope back up and returned it to the MoD.

"I've heard nothing back since," he said.

Mr Steer then told his friends at his local Royal British Legion, where he is chairman, about the letter.

The grandfather of seven said: "I thought it was a joke at first and I told one of my mates.

"We had a joke about it later and my family had a laugh about it as well."

A spokesman for the MoD said: "Ex-soldiers have a call-up liability but only for about three years after they leave the service."

Mr Steer was captured at El Alamein in 1942 while serving his country in the First Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment.

He joined the Territorial Army in 1938 for a hobby and was called up a year later to fight the Germans.

After being captured, Mr Steer was forced to work in a coal mine in Czechoslovakia while a prisoner of war before he was liberated in 1945.

He stayed in the Army until 1961, rising to become a staff sergeant before he left the forces and started a job in Brighton.

Despite the MoD mistake, Mr Steer supports the Government's determination to go to war to disarm Saddam Hussein.

He said: "We must get rid of him - not his people but him. That is the only answer to the crisis."