POLICE are looking for a pensioner who asked chemists for cough medicine and was given the heroin drug substitute Methadone by mistake.

Methadone, which is prescribed to heroin addicts, can be fatal if taken to excess or in combination with drink or other drugs.

There is particular concern for the well-being of the man because of his age, thought to be between 70 to 80.

He called in at JE and NA Richardson Ltd, St James Street, Bacup, at about 4pm yesterday.

The pensioner said he wanted to buy cough medicine and told staff he was also taking tablets for his blood pressure.

In error he was handed a brown bottle containing 180 mls of the heroin substitute.

The bottle was wrongly marked as cough medicine with the advice to take a 10ml dose four times a day.

A spokesman at the shop said: "It was a mix-up with the labels on two bottles.

"It is a strong painkiller and if taken if the dosage recommended there should be no problem.''

The man is described as white, aged between 70 and 80, and smartly dressed wearing a dark or black jacket.

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