A retired RAF policeman was left shocked after his bank card was frozen for weeks on end, meaning he couldn't pay his wife's care home fees.
James Campbell, 84, a hearing and sight impaired retired RAF policeman was prevented from using his account for 10 weeks straight, in an error his bank is responsible for.
The 84-year-old grandfather's life was completely affected by this mistake, so much so that he couldn't even access money to pay for his wife's care home, reports the Daily Record.
The incident came about after a Santander fraud team accidentally blocked his account and launched an investigation.
Because of this, Mr Campbell was forced to live off a credit card to get by - landing him with hefty fees and charges.
In order to sort out the problem, he made multiple trips to his local branch in East Kilbride but was told by staff that they couldn't help him with the issue.
Speaking about how her father struggled during this time, James' daughter Ellie Purvis, 60, explained: "How do you expect somebody to live like this? I think my dad's done really well. I couldn't have gone 10 weeks without any money. What he's been doing since then is living on a small credit card that he's got which is obviously incurring interest charges.
"He's been drawing cash out of it because sometimes he needs cash to pay for his cleaner who comes in once a week and he pays for his clothes to be washed and ironed. So he's got people that he needs to give cash to.
"He also likes to give the grandchildren £10 here and there so he likes to have cash in his wallet. So he's been going to the cashline and drawing cash out of this credit card. I've tried explaining that it's going to be incurring charges but he doesn't understand that."
Since, Santander has lifted the block and apologised.
The family have tried to figure out what caused the problem in the first place, with Ellie saying it could have possibly been caused by James trying to use his online banking system and move money.
She added: "Santander's fraud team has not been communicating with us or not telling us anything. We don't know who committed this fraud or if there's even been fraud, which we don't think there has.
"We think it might actually have been him moving money about that has started this all but because they're not telling us anything, that's only a guess. We've been into the local branch multiple times and they've really tried their best to help but because they are working on a different system from the fraud team so there's absolutely nothing they could do.
"This has just been going on and on. Going into the bank, trying to get money, nothing happening. On the odd occasion, he might get some money out but he'll put that on his credit card so that it doesn't run out because it's only a small balance."
Ellie continued to say: "That's how he's been managing to survive. We call them up, they say they'll call us back but they don't. One day my son went up and sat for five hours with my dad waiting for a call back but it never came.
"My dad can't hear what they're saying to him over the phone because he's deaf. They're asking security questions like 'what money went into your account last week' but because he can't get access to his account, he can't see what direct debits have gone out or what's come in.
"My dad's got two broken ribs after a fall in the house a few weeks ago and I'm having to drag him up to the bank to try to get money out. He had care home fees to pay which he hasn't paid for ages but he hasn't been able to get access to his money.
"It's an awful way to treat someone."
A Santander spokesperson confirmed the account was unfrozen on August 25. They said: "We take our customers' security extremely seriously and where we are concerned, we will temporarily freeze their account until we are comfortable that there is no threat.
"In Mr Campbell's case, we rightly froze his account over security concerns, however, we are sorry about the length of time it took for us to release the block and the number of times he was required to visit his branch.
"As such, and as a gesture of goodwill, we have offered him £400 and to reimburse the interest and fees on his credit card for the last two months."
