A Perthshire pensioner has been frozen out of £14,000 from his Tesco Bank account in the run up to Christmas with the chain refusing to tell him why.
Allan Cosgrove, from the Coupar Angus area, hasn’t been able to access his money for nearly a fortnight after the banking arm of the supermarket giant locked him out of his two accounts on November 27.
The 72-year-old only discovered his plight when he went to pay for his shopping at a local Tesco branch and saw his card declined.
The widower, who suffers from diabetes and has lost a kidney to cancer, spent the following day, the fourth anniversary of his wife’s death, on the phone to the bank.
Multiple calls and three official complaints later, Allan still hasn’t been told by Tesco why they have frozen his accounts without any warning.
“I’m not happy with them,” he told The Courier.
“I’m just a few weeks short of 73 and I live on my own.
“Nobody is telling me what’s happening. It’s my money
“I have tried my utmost to resolve this matter, but all to no avail.
“If I were to seize a Tesco cashbox containing £14,000 there would be uproar and screams of theft.
“But me, as an old age disabled pensioner, is given to understand that its ok for them to impound their cash without impunity, all wrong and entirely appalling.”
The pensioner claims he also ran up bills phoning the bank on their premium line accounts which can cost up to 15p per minute.
“You go through the same routine over and over again, it’s always 15 to 20 minutes.
“A few days ago I was on for 58 minutes – and then they came back and said they couldn’t discuss it.
“They’ve got my landline number, my mobile number, text and email and they haven’t got in touch with me.”
When The Courier contacted Tesco Bank on Allan’s behalf they again refused to say why they had frozen the 72-year-old’s access to his money after seven years with the organisation.
On Thursday the banking chain contacted the customer to say they wanted to close his accounts completely, again without giving Allan a reason why.
The date they gave Allan, who still has no access to his money, for closing the account is December 23 – two days before Christmas.
Allan said: “I want to warn other customers that this is what they can do to you.
“I can’t understand it. It’s ridiculous.”
A Tesco Bank spokesperson said: “The service we provide to Tesco Bank customers is a top priority for us, however we are unable to comment on the particulars of individual cases.
“We only block accounts where this is considered necessary or appropriate.”
