Halifax must be the worst bank ever...

[The_Editor]

So use a building society !!

Actually I'm with the Halifax,  Been with them since ... er ...  A long time  (even got shares, which I cashed in).

To me ... Barclays are the pits .  In 1981  (I think it was)  I had my cheque book go missing.  I immediately put a stop on it and waited for my new one to be mailed to me.

It was summer holidays 1981 .. I was working at Hotpoint who pay 200% holiday pay (still do)  so my two weeks money was actually a months money  (woohoo).

Two days later I got a bank statement saying I was £200 in the red ... I thought .. {bleep}S ..thats impossible.. I dont have ANY standing orders or direct debits etc.

tow days after that .. I get another statement saying I'm  £700 in the red ??

Mum says .. "get down the bank",  DEMAND to see the manager.  This I duly did.

Turns out they had honoured cheques from the missing cheque book after I had put a stop to it.  The culprit turned out to be a (so called) mate who I would have trusted my life with.  He was going into the bank (Barclays) writing them out at the counter as "Pay Cash".  When no more funds were available he hit the shops spending UP TO £50. each transaction.

The bank duly called the police ..  Wheels in motion.

But they acted so fast that they hadn't got all the cheques collected..  They only admitted to the first £300,  Saying he's already been tried for the offence.  We cant "do him twice".

I had to stump up the rest.  As it was a current account ALL my money naturally got paid into it.  they FROZE my account so I didn't have a bean until it was ALL paid off.  No money for the rent (I had my own pad) .. No money for food..

NOTHING.

I had to go to the provi  and {bleep} about a hotpoint staff sale to buy a fridge (so they would give me cash) for £200 to live on.

NEVER AGAIN will I have ANYTHING to do with Barclays.

Friendliest bank for me  (I think it was a bank ..long time ago)  Was the R & I in western Australia.

[The_Editor]

Thinking back to that event ..

It was actually his girlfriend who did the absolute verification.  

I knew her pretty well from CB "eyeballs"  We had a huge Eyeball here in Peterborough called "Zulu Xray"  Thousands of people were members..

Including all of us  (hey, it was the hip thing).

Her handle was the Paper Lady  (Penni Lounds) because her family was into the Media .. Her father was a freelance videographer,  Her brother a photographer ..etc.

I was the "Billy Whizz"  because i was a speedway rider.

She enquired from bob  (Bobcat . her boyfriend) .. where are you getting all this money for these pressies you keep buying?  To which he replied HE was a speedway rider .. ( I was HIS mechanic).  She thought no more about it until she saw me a while later.

She was livid. And promptly verified everything to the Police..  It was the first time a female I had known had stuck up for me (for anything) against HER loved one  ( THEN).


If you saw the court case in Peterborough involving Ian Huntly & Maxine Carr (Soham murders) where a girl ran forward and banged the side of the van...



THAT was the "Paper Lady"  (Penni Lounds).