Mum Melanie Thompson was stunned when she opened a letter from her bank - and found a cheque for £8.3 million.

The 31-year-old was due some money from the Halifax - whose slogan is "Get A Little Extra Help from the Halifax" - after buying her terraced house, but nothing like the amount that dropped through her letterbox.

Melanie, pictured, had bought her home in Beauvais Drive, Riddlesden, Keighley, from Aire-Wharfe Community Housing Trust, which took over the running of some of Bradford's 26,000 council houses earlier this year.

But the mum-of-one was shocked to see the amount sent out on the banker's draft.

It read - £8,309, 393.86!

"At first I thought it was for £8,000 and a few pounds. Then I realised it was for £8 million," she said.

"I have never seen so many numbers on a cheque before. I couldn't believe it.

"I can almost imagine how lottery winners must feel."

In the same post she also got the correct cheque for £160 - a refunded valution fee, the Halifax really owed her.

The £8 million draft came with a duplicate covering letter which made the mistake obvious.

Melanie, a part-time courier, with an eight-year-old daughter, Amy, said she will now frame the draft to show how close she came to being a millionaire.

She admitted it crossed her mind briefly what would happen if she tried to bank it, but then laughed: "It just couldn't happen. It would be fraud.

"But it would be nice to have that amount."

She added: "If it had been for real I would have been dreaming about paying off the mortgage, going on a holiday and getting a new car. Of course, I realised there had been an error. But it was nice to dream."

She laughed: "I won't be resigning, put it that way. I can barely afford to pay my phone bill.

"But I wouldn't have minded even the interest from one day with that amount in my bank.

"I'll frame it and put it on the wall and dream of the day I was sent £8 million through the post!"

The Halifax admitted the mistake, saying the draft was cancelled as soon as the error was discovered.

A spokesman said the number was keyed into the amount box in error.

"The wrong number was keyed in. We have sent flowers to her and our apologies.

"We cancelled the draft straight away."

The spokesman added: "The error had been spotted in the building during our checking procedure but was accidentally put in the post.

"To all intents and purposes it was just a piece of paper as far as we were concerned because it had been stopped and should never have gone out in the first place."