Bugreport

Hello
There seems to be a problem in the online validator.(validator.w3.org)
When I had tried to validate my HTML4.0 file (attached), an unusual error 
appeared. The validator didn't notice the <p> tag and complained about the 
</p> ending tag. Also, the <br/> tag was mysteriously transformed to bare 
<br>, but there was no complaints about that.
Thank you for your time.
Ziemowit Pazderski