I have just had a preliminary hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff court in an action against RBS. I have pursued 4 accounts with them and settled 3 of them for a total of around £7000. On the last account all the charges (over £5k!) are over 6 years old and RBS have refused to pay out. I raised a small claims action for the oldest charges (£720 charged in November 1999) and the bank tried at the prelim hearing last week to have the case struck out as being time barred under the Prescription & Limitation 1973 Act. Strangely the bank's final letter to me stating their defence was 'lost' in the post and the first time I saw it was in court. Their letter threatened me with all their costs and urged me to withdraw my action! Anyway from reading this site I had a good idea of their plan and had looked out enough info on prescription to convince the Sheriff that the bank had a case to answer. Happily she agreed and it goes to Proof in July. If successful this case will open the way for others to go back further with their claims (as far back as they have bank statements up to a maximum of 20 years). This will not be easy as I have to prove that the bank concealed the penalty charges and that being unaware of this then the period for prescription did not start and therefore I am not time barred. Section 11(3) of the 1973 Act is crucial and I will link this to the OFT statements in April 2006 & September 2006 to establish the 'relevant' date. If anyone else has run this through court already, has any ideas, or can provide any case law please get in touch. The Sheriff stated that she would allocate extra time in court for legal argument and that as far as she knew this case would be a first in the UK. I have no need to settle before it goes to court and having attended once I'm happy to face the bank in court. Any help for this test case will be welcomed.

Thanks for that. I assumed it was just a ploy but it made me more determined to pursue it. The RBS tactic was to deny that they could find my accounts (closed them 3 years ago). Basically said that they had no record of me being a customer and they delayed sending me any statements for 3 months until I contacted the Data Protection people. Then they sent me some (missing out the later months when I had most charges). I guess the banks hope that most of us give up and go away.

Thanks for the wording for the particulars of claim. I'm new to this but am claiming against the RBoS for myself and Clydesdale for my girlfriend. The first letter back from Clydesdale says that is she pursues them they will take court action against her for breach of contract!!! I'm guessing it's their standard first reply. Have u had anything similar from Clydesdale? Good luck with the court action