Thread: alanfromderby v Abbey - 2nd Claim - Judgement awarded

It is a great feeling to be able to turn the tables.

I have just put in my request yesterday via e-banking, and am now awaiting their acknowledement. In hindsight though, I wish I had gone down the DPA route.

How long should we be giving them to send the statements ordered through e-banking before following up with a DPA request?

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• A&L Judgement awarded- no response

There is nothing to stop you sending a DPA request now. Send the money with it. Claim it back later

And you should report them to IC if they don't comply with your request.

Hi, and thanks for the advice.

I have had mixed responses from branch staff locally. The ones who have been there for some time are great and very friendly. However, I do find that their response to anything out of the ordinary is to direct you to the call-centre telephones.

The best one recently though, was when I wanted to present a cheque for Special Clearance. The account I have has a five-day clearance time for cheques, and I wanted to request faster clearance for one cheque - the value of the cheque was such that I was prepared to pay the fee.

Anyway, I was told that it could take longer than five days if I used that system, due to "delays with the post".

I asked why the cheque could not be put through the normal system - as it would, if it had been put through a standard current account.

The reply came that "Abbey is not a clearing bank".

I asked how then it was possible that Abbey's standard current account quoted a three day clearance.

She replied that my account had a five day clearance time.

"That's not the point", I said. "You have accounts that offer a three day clearance, so why can't you process my cheque in three days if I pay for Special Clearance?"

"Because Special Clearance relies on the post and it can take as much as ten days"

At this point I gave up.

On another occasion I wanted to bank about twenty cheques at the counter...only to be told that this was "most irregular", and I should use the ATM - of course that adds another day to the processing time!

In the end though, I think all banks are as bad as each other. The patronising and unhelpful chap on the Nationwide advert shows to me the real attitude of the banks, and other financial institutions, that we are trying to take on.

However, within these unfeeling corporations, you do find some staff who care...and as I said at the start of this post, there are several at our local branch who do try to be as helpful as they can.

BTW...do you think there is any posibility of getting my money back from a local Coca-Cola Championship Football Club, after years of under achievement?

Can somebody please clarify about the 8%.

On the spreadsheet it says that you should not request (or even mention) the 8% interest until you start the CC claim.

Does this mean that the bank would only have to refund the actual fees taken should they decide to settle within the 14+14 days?

Am I interpretting this correctly?

Yes you are.

Received letter this morning saying that my e-banking request for 6-years worth of copy statements had been received, and that as they have been archived they would be sent out "shortly".

Interestingly the letter comes from a chap called Antony Tarbitt, who has acquired the title of "Business Manager - Customer Account Service Excellence". Hmmm!

Using a "belt and braces" approach, I have also been able to confirm through track-and-trace that Abbey have received my DPA letter and payment.

The clock has started.

Interesting to note that a few days ago I received a letter from Abbey regarding an unpaid DD. Usually these letters say that £35 will be taken out on a date to be advised on your next statement. This one said that a fee would be deducted, and that the amount and date would be notified on the statement.

This was sent before they would have received my request for statements, so I guess they are having some serious thoughts of what to do next.

Interesting. Let us know what your statement says when you get it.

Received the first batch of printouts this morning - so I know what I will be doing this afternoon.

They appear to go back to the beginning of 2005, but come with a covering letter from their DPA Office that confirms they have passed the request through to the archive department, and that I should receive the microfiched copies of the remaining documents "in due course".

The clock is still ticking.....

Actually, just had another look at the letter, and they appear to pulling a fast one. Effectively, they have converted my DPA request into a request for copy statements. The argument they are using is the microfiche excuse, and that they don't keep manual intervention information centrally, so they cannot easily supply it.

It is my opinion that "in due course" tends to mean "sometime, never". Time to get them back on my timetable:



Jackie Scott
Data Protection Consultant
Regulatory Compliance
Abbey House
201 Grafton Gate East
Milton Keynes
MK9 1AN

7th April 2006


Data Protection Act disclosure request

Dear Ms Scott

Account Number: xxxxxxxx

I am in receipt of your letter dated 4th April 2006, outlining that you could only provide me with printouts covering the last 13 months on my account, because any earlier information has been archived onto microfiche. Enclosed was a list of transactions and account detail covering that 13 month period.

My request was for a complete list of transactions and charges relating to our account since 1st April 2000 – in short, a list of charges with dates and amounts – alternatively, a complete set of account statements for that period will be acceptable. This should be retrievable from your accounting systems, and easy for you to produce. I will accept a computer print out of these transactions.

I am aware that you have been willing and able to provide other customers with a print-out of six years transaction information – and am happy to provide evidence of this to the Information Commissioner should it prove necessary. I would also draw your attention to Smith v Lloyds TSB Bank plc (2005) EWHC 246 (Ch).

This letter has been sent by first class recorded delivery, and therefore should have reached you by Monday April 10th – as you will be aware, as of this date you have just 26 days in which to comply with my request. As stated above, a complete set of account statements for the period in question will be acceptable; however, I expect this to be provided within the time period for DPA compliance.

Should there be any further attempts to delay compliance, I will be left with no alternative but to escalate this matter into an official complaint to the Information Commissioner.


Yours faithfully,

Day 41 - Abbey have now defaulted on the DPA request, and will have my letter before action giving them 7 days to comply, or I will be commencing an action under section 7 of the Data Protection Act.

If they fail to get the information to me by Monday 15th May, I will be issuing the CC action, and hitting them with my Prelim for an estimated claim.

The letter I sent is copied below - if you need the wording for the Particulars of Claim PM me at the time:




Jackie Scott
Data Protection Consultant
Regulatory Compliance
Abbey House
201 Grafton Gate East
Milton Keynes
MK9 1AN


6th May 2006


letter before action
Section 7 – Data Protection Act 1998

Dear Ms Scott

Account Number: xxxxxxxx

I am in receipt of the documents that you have supplied in response to my Data Protection Act information request dated 23rd March 2006. The disclosure of personal data is incomplete in that at least the following documents are missing.

1) You have failed to provide a complete list of transactions and charges for the period prior to February 2005.
2) You have provided no notes, or documents relating to instances of manual intervention prior to February 2005.

This is not an exhaustive list by any means, it is just an example of some of the information I am missing.

Accordingly, I have to tell you that you have not yet complied with your obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

The time for compliance with my request has now expired. If you do not comply fully with my Subject access request within 7 days, I shall apply to the county court for an order together with damages at the discretion of the court.


Yours faithfully,

It looks like Abbey have decided to play games with me now. I received the following letter this morning, which is in response to my Data Protection Act - letter before action:



Dear xxxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your letter dated 8th May addressed to Jackie Scott.

I note your comments regarding transactions and charges prior to February 2005 and regarding notes or documents relating to manual intervention for the same period.

I confirm that you have been given all the transactional data you are entitled to under the Data Protection Act as you have been provided with all the transactional details that are held on our systems. As previously advised, any previous transactions have been archived onto microfiche. As these microfiche records are not held as part of a relevant filing system, they are not covered by the Data Protection Act and will not therefore be supplied to you under a Section 7 Data Protection Act request. However, I confirm that arrangements have been made for the microfiche records to be sent to you in due course.

As far as notes of records about manual intervention are concerned, I am sorry that we are unable to help with this request. As Jackie Scott mentioned in her letter, not all manual interventions are recorded and we do not keep a central record of this activity.

You have mentioned that the two items listed in your letter are examples of the information you are missing. It is not clear what other information you believe is missing, but if you could clarify this, I will investigate further.

Yours sincerely


Debbie Waghorn
Head of Data Protection



Sorry Abbey, but "in due course" is not god enough - looks like another trip to Derby county court if it doesn't turn up by Monday!

A nice big estimated prelim can go in the post at the same time.