Bank tells woman: 'You can't have your savings, madam...you're dead'

Although she appeared before them in the pink of health, staff at Mary Welsby's bank were positive she had passed away.

Her Isa account had been closed and the £3,000 in it paid out.

Despite flashing photograph ID, Mrs Welsby was informed that she was still officially deceased and could not draw out any cash.

Mystified - and more than a little annoyed - she contacted the head office of the Abbey.

It promised to investigate, but replied in a letter a month later that it was not sure it "understood the problem".

The 77-year-old said: "I know I'm quite long in the tooth now but I'm certainly not dead.

"My annual statement on my Abbey Isa account failed to materialise so I phoned them up and was told the account had been closed.

"I took the matter up with my local branch in Telford and they asked me if my husband had perhaps closed it.

"I replied it was unlikely because he passed away 25 years ago.

"The young lady serving me began typing away on her computer but all of a sudden looked puzzled and told me that according to their records, I was dead.

She went a bit pale, either because she was embarrassed at such a mistake or she thought she was seeing a ghost.

"I made numerous calls to head office but they kept on telling me not to worry and that they would make inquiries.

"That was fine for them but it was my £3,000 savings that had gone missing."

Eventually, after the bank investigated further, it discovered that a woman with a name similar to hers and around the same age had died.

By mistake, Mrs Welsby's account had been closed and the money paid out to the dead woman's family.

Nine weeks later, the grandmother of two, from Albrighton, Shropshire, finally heard she was going to get her money back, hopefully with a bit extra by way of apology.

"Abbey have told me they have reclaimed my savings and have pledged to give me some compensation as a result of all the fuss caused," she said yesterday.

"But I'm 77 and a widow, so it doesn't do my health any good when I'm told my £3,000 has disappeared because I'm dead.

"It has taken a lot of time, effort and money, what with phone bills and bus fares to Abbey and my local library to process all the paperwork."

Abbey - previously known as Abbey National - blamed the mistake on a clerical error.

A spokesman said: "We are sincerely sorry for the distress and inconvenience Mrs Welsby has experienced while we investigated her complaint.

"We have identified an error, which was made when we processed a transaction for an unrelated customer and this resulted in the closure of Mrs Welsby's account."

The spokesman said the error would be corrected promptly and Mrs Welsby would be compensated.