A FURIOUS father who is recovering from major spinal surgery has won an apology from his bank after it admitted taking almost £500 from his account by mistake.

Lloyds-TSB has admitted there was a "breakdown in communication" after the cash was taken from Stephen Scott's account.

Today Mr Scott, 35, of Walmsley Street, Great Harwood, blasted the "bungling bureaucracy" of the banking system.

Mr Scott lost his job at Coastal Print Finishers, Preston, in July, but was assured by staff at his branch in Darwen that he would not have to meet any of his outstanding personal loan repayments because he had taken out insurance protection schemes in case of redundancy.

But last month he was horrified to discover that almost £500 had been debited from his account by Lloyds-TSB just days after he underwent major spinal surgery at Hope Hospital, Manchester.

He was then told by the Lloyds-TSB head office that he would not receive the money back.

Mr Scott, who used to live in Darwen, but now of Walmsley Street, Great Harwood, has banked for more than 10 years at the Darwen branch of the TSB, which recently merged with Lloyd's.

He said: "I was fed up to the back teeth about the way I was treated. It was so unfair. I felt like they had stolen the money from me. "The bureaucracy I have come across is astounding. I went into the Accrington branch of the bank and they spent one hour 20 minutes trying to get through to their own head office."

Mr Scott, who lives with his wife Sarah and their 12-year-old daughter Kimberley, underwent the surgery to resolve a long-standing back complaint and has been told he will not be able to work for six months.

He said: "I have undergone major surgery and I don't need the stress which I have been put under. My branch in Darwen has done its best and has been helpful, but it is the bungling bureaucracy of the system which has infuriated me."

A spokeswoman at the Lloyds-TSB head office said: "There has been an error by ourselves which was caused by a breakdown in communication between the branch and our head office.

"What normally happens is that when a person loses their job and has outstanding loan repayments, a token amount is taken from their account until the insurance claim is accepted.

"In this case the full amount was taken out of Mr Scott's account, which was a mistake. Once the insurance claim is accepted Mr Scott will get the money back and the insurance policy will also cover the remainder of the loan repayments.

"We apologise for the confusion."

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