HERE IS A SAD, BUT SO TYPICAL STORY AS TOLD TO ME RECENTLY BY MY VERY GOOD FRIEND, Paul [surname withheld for reasons of privacy]—
My dad has terminal cancer. He decided to transfer £10,000 from his bank account into mine as a gift and so I enquired at the counter of my bank (the Halifax) as to what the daily cash withdrawal limit was on my current account, without additional photo ID, because my photo ID was out of date.
The guy replied, “it’s £2000 per day.”
So I said “OK, thanks.”
The next day, I went back to the bank put my card into the reader at the counter and entered my PIN (personal identification number). The cashier then asked how much I’d like to withdraw, and I told her “£2000 please.”
The cashier then said. “Oh, do you have any photo ID?”
“No…” I replied, “—-but a staff member told me yesterday that I could withdraw £2000 per day without photo ID” I pointed out the guy and the cashier said, “that’s the manager.” I replied, “OK, great.”
Then she said “the computer has blocked the withdrawal request and flagged it up as possible fraud.” Of course, I was shocked!
“What’s the money for?” the cashier asked me.
Resisting the temptation to say ‘what’s it got to do with you,’ and in order to avoid being denied access to what was after all, my Own money, I was quite polite and replied “I’m not sure yet, I’ve not decided.”