Long-lost twins hoping to see each other for the first time may never meet because the British government refuses to issue one of them with a passport.

Both Peter Darvall, 63, from Durrington and his twin Les, who lives in South Africa, have terminal illnesses.

However, the Government is refusing to fast track a passport for Peter because it says he did not fill out the correct forms when he arrived in Britain from South Africa 47 years ago.

Les has cancer and does not have long to live but ministers are refusing to provide Peter, who has terminal emphysema, with permission to travel.

He wants to fly to South Africa immediately to meet Les, who is too ill to make the reverse journey, for the first time.

Peter said: "I spoke to the hospital in South Africa this morning and they told me Les is in a very bad way, he is just skin and bone and there is no way he'll recover.

"I just want to meet him before he dies. I don't even know if I will be able to go to South Africa afterwards to pay my last respects."

Peter and Les were separated shortly after their birth in South Africa in 1943.

Peter moved to Worthing with his foster family at the age of 15 but they never told him about Les and the pair only discovered each other at Christmas in 2005 when Peter received a mystery phone call, possibly from the South African embassy, telling him of his brother's existence.

Peter, a retired butcher who used to work at Swandean Meats, Worthing, said: "When I was told about Les I felt at last that I would be able to meet my own flesh and blood.

"It was an amazing discovery and took me completely by surprise. It makes it all the worse that we can't see each other while we still have the chance.

"The first time we spoke on the phone we were both crying.

"We have never met but we were exactly the same, with the same sense of humour."

The Government has told Peter he must fill in a series of citizenship forms and prove he has been working in this country before it will consider giving him a passport.

He entered the country in 1959 on a false passport but it is the stream of paperwork Peter must complete which is proving the real stumbling block.

Peter said: "They've told me I've got to do all this but the point is neither of us have the time to do it. Time is running out and Les will not last long.

"I am sure by the time I have filled in all the forms they want he will have already gone."

The Home Office said it would not fast track the passport application but said it would try to speed up the application for citizenship. It said: "We consider sympathetically any request to treat applications for citizenship as a priority."