ONE of the best known faces in Ludlow is hoping to find a permanent job.

Not many people know him by name but Ion Dumdtra may well be a familiar face to you.

Up to four days a week for the past eight years the 38-year-old has been selling The Big Issue.

He came to the UK with his family from Romania 11 years ago and now he hopes someone can give him the chance of a permanent job.

Ion travels from Birmingham to sell the magazine in a town that he has come to know and love.

“I would take any job, but want permanent work. In Romania I worked in a factory and have worked in the scrap metal business in this country.”

His home land may be hundreds of miles away but Ion wants to work hard and be a long way from the caricature of the economic migrant .