In the period 02 July to 12 July my 92 year old father was defrauded to the tune of £25200, cash, by some bogus roofing contractors. This happened when I was on holiday.
It appears to be a classic swindle, like you see on daytime TV. The criminals requested money upfront to buy materials and accompanied my father to the bank to get the cash (although they waited outside the bank). Obviously they took advantage of his short term memory problems (and I also think, reading between the lines, that threats were involved) and repeated the demands for money a total of 7 times (twice in one day!) as follows:
02 Jul – £4200
02 Jul – £2600
04 Jul – £4400
06 Jul – £4700
09 Jul – £4700
10 Jul – £4600
At the final attempt on, 12 Jul, another £4500 was withdrawn but the bank manager intervened and called in the police.
Of course the criminals have escaped and there is now a police case on-going. Even if they are caught it is very unlikely that the criminals will refund the cash.
Now then, while I’m glad the bank manager did intervene, I can’t help thinking that it would have been better if the intervention happened sooner.
My question is – do I have a reasonable case against the bank for not intervening and asking questions sooner?
To my mind an intervention on 04 Jul would have been appropriate given the previous transactions by a dazed (probably) 92 year old!

Any advice appreciated!

Meanwhile, on another thread, someone will be accusing a bank of not allowing their father to withdraw his own money!!

If your argument is that your father is incapable of dealing with his own financial affairs then have you looked into setting up a Power of Attorney to sort things for him?

Power of Attorney has now been set up.