I FEEL I must write to ask what on earth is wrong with British banks these days.

There doesn't seem to be any emphasis on customer care.

I'm 85-years-old and I have banked with Lloyds for years.

The staff in the Church Street branch were very friendly and helpful and depositing or withdrawing money was so simple and straight forward. Since the merger with the TSB I now have to use their branch in High Street.

I must say that I dread going to the bank now, it's such a headache.

I hand in my bank book and it's queeried every time. They keep me waiting for about 10 minutes while they check me out.

Each time a different cashier has said to me in a less than polite tone: "Oh, you're from over there." Did we do something wrong banking with Lloyds? Technically I am a TSB customers now, too, so I shouldn't be spoken to as if I'm from 'another' bank.

Because of their attitude I advised my 85 year old gran not to open an account with TSB. She had a received a cheque for quite a bit of money and wanted to deposit it.

We went to three different banks in Widnes town centre and no-one wanted her money!

Detailed forms were thrust in her hand by less than polite cashiers and she was told to fill them in and bring them back.

The Halifax was particularly rude and told my Nan her pension book and gas bill were not sufficient forms of ID - she's 85 for God's sake.

Thankfully the fourth bank we tried were 'normal'. A bank clerk took us to a room, checked my gran's ID, filled in a form, took the cheque from her and opened the account.

It took just 10 minutes.

Thank you Barclays - I know where I'll be going in future.

Bewildered bank customer

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