Lawyer Loses Pivotal Bank Charges Challenge

A NatWest customer has lost his legal bid to attain damages for what he calls “unfair” banking penalty charges.

Barrister Tom Brennan took the high street bank to court after he was charged £2,500 for unauthorised overdrafts whilst he was a law student.

NatWest offered to settle out of court for around £3,000 but Mr Brennan pursued his claim for damages, arguing the bank acted unlawfully in taking his money.

The City of London County Court has now dismissed his case, describing it as contrived.

Judge Peter Simpson said: “There is no prospect of success and no other reasons why this should go to trial, in my judgement.”

Mr Brennan said he was not surprised by the verdict and would appeal it in the High Court.

He accused the banks of attempting to avoid court adjudication by “forcing” money into people’s accounts.

“It seems any financial institutions can force money into an individual’s account and therefore excuse themselves from any court case,” he said.

Martin Lewis, of consumer website MoneySavingExpert.com, who has been leading a campaign against penalty charges, said the outcome was unlikely to influence a test case to be heard by the High Court.

“Tom Brennan has always been going for the extreme case that is totally different from what everyone else is going for. It is something I always questioned the wisdom of,” he said.

NatWest will not seek costs from Mr Brennan over the court case.