Well, after giving them a week to come up with some good answers they have written back to say 1) They were on microfiche. 2) They should have been transferred to an electronic filing system 3) They weren't and the records have been destroyed. i tend towards believing that they have honestly managed to destroy them. Does anyone have any idea what this means for me, or for RBS. I am not very impressed with them! I have already written to ask for charges back, and included an estimate for the missing months. Any thoughts?

Yes, I put a bit in somewhere else about giving detailed explanation of how they saw fit to lose, alter, modify or destroy date pre June 2001. I wonder what the position would be if they had actually lost all my records since before 2001?

well, their times up, so I phoned again asked why i couldn't have my information. The DPO told me some story about changed account numbers and different computing system, she even implied that I should estimate my charges for my claim against them (which started today - can't be arsed to wait for RBS to mess around.) I called the ICO and the guy I spoke to said that she may mean their records are on microfiche - in which case they have to supply them to me. If it's a computing thing, and they genuinley can't find the data, then it's probably a breach of the DPA. He also said if they're in the business of losing financial records So, I sent them a letter (extract below) i'll see what response they come up with then see what the best thing to do is. Unless anyone's got any thoughts?

What is they have, honestly, got no record of my account for those missing months? What happens if I go to court, and they say "sorry, sir, we lost 'em." Where does that leave me?

Well, their deadline is up opn 26/2 and on 24/2 I received a letter saying they still can't find statements for 6 months is 2001. So, what do i do about this? Does anyone know what the legal position is? Should I just start the ball rolling with my claim and do another one if/when these 'missing' statements turn up? Has anyone else been in the same boat?

No, the accounts been open since around summer 2000. I guess I have to give them their 40 days to find them in their "archive."

I phoned thier c/card centre.... First person denied they had a Data Protection Officer! Anyway, got a call back from a RBoS employee. I asked where the statements were and she said she'd "look into it" and suggested that a change of account number might have caused the problem. I suggested this was Bullsh** as the number on the account had changed more than once without them being unable to find the statements. The account is still active, so there can be no way those statements don't exist. But in any case, I reminded her that the 40 day clock was still ticking - so we will wait and see. I was a bit hacked off with the way the statements were sent, in an A3 envelope containing A4 statements which ripped in the post. I told the DPO about this and she insisted they were sent in "secure" packaging. I told her I had photos to show otherwise, which seemed to knock the wind from here sails. I suspect incompetence rather than malice in all of this. But as long as I get my ca. £500 back I'll be happy.

Dear All, Just had statement from RBoS c/card, and this message was included. "please find enc. copies of statement from June 2001 to date. Unfortunatley our archives do not contain records from Jan 2001 to May 2001 for your account" What the hell does that mean? Surely they can't have lost a record of their charges and the like? Can anyone shed any light on this. I really want my statements around those dates as I reckon they charged me a fair few quid around that time.