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Debt case set to go to court
Friday, September 12, 2008, 07:00
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A TERMINALLY ill cancer patient's claim that one of Britain's biggest banks harassed him and his family for a £5,000 debt, is likely to be heard in court early next year.
Lung cancer patient David Lloyd, from Manchester, and his wife Annette Edwards, are represented by a Plymouth law firm and suing HBOS in what they call a 'David and Goliath battle'.
Neil Mercer, a solicitor advocate at Mutley Plain-based Curtis Solicitors, is bringing the couple's action under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
The couple chose Mr Mercer after he represented Alison Turner, from Plymouth, when she sued the Halifax for harassment last year. The bank admitted that case had been settled.
Mr Lloyd and Mrs Edwards want damages for stress, anxiety and psychological damage, after claiming they received 762 phone calls in a 10-month period in 2006.
The case is likely to be heard at Manchester County Court as early as February, but it is understood HBOS is counter claiming against Mr Lloyd, 62, and Mrs Edwards, 58, for money they owe.
The couple said until details of the counter claim are known the case can't proceed.
But they want the bank to alter its procedures and Mrs Edwards stressed: "David is determined to see it through to the end."
The couple owed the bank money from a loan, and had an overdraft, but claim when Mr Lloyd was diagnosed with cancer the Halifax, as the bank was then called, was told he had given up work and needed time to sort out finances.
But the bank called them persistently in 2006, including 184 calls in August and 169 in September, they claim.
The alleged harassment became so bad, they say, that it made Mr Lloyd psychologically incapable of working when he entered remission.
"We were getting telephone calls day after day," he said.
"We paid them what we could afford – but the following day we got another call."The bank also failed to update their records which upset us because we had to repeat my medical diagnosis time after time."
The couple changed their phone number, but claim the bank then telephoned Mrs Edwards' daughter Stefanie Moore, making between 60 and 100 calls to her mobile in four months, while her husband was in the armed forces overseas.
HBOS continued to call despite Mrs Moore telling them she was not involved, the couple say. She has now been joined into the proceedings and her claim will be heard at the same time.
HBOS declined to comment.
Debt case set to go to court
Friday, September 12, 2008, 07:00
Be the first reader to comment on this story.
A TERMINALLY ill cancer patient's claim that one of Britain's biggest banks harassed him and his family for a £5,000 debt, is likely to be heard in court early next year.
Lung cancer patient David Lloyd, from Manchester, and his wife Annette Edwards, are represented by a Plymouth law firm and suing HBOS in what they call a 'David and Goliath battle'.
Neil Mercer, a solicitor advocate at Mutley Plain-based Curtis Solicitors, is bringing the couple's action under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
The couple chose Mr Mercer after he represented Alison Turner, from Plymouth, when she sued the Halifax for harassment last year. The bank admitted that case had been settled.
Mr Lloyd and Mrs Edwards want damages for stress, anxiety and psychological damage, after claiming they received 762 phone calls in a 10-month period in 2006.
The case is likely to be heard at Manchester County Court as early as February, but it is understood HBOS is counter claiming against Mr Lloyd, 62, and Mrs Edwards, 58, for money they owe.
The couple said until details of the counter claim are known the case can't proceed.
But they want the bank to alter its procedures and Mrs Edwards stressed: "David is determined to see it through to the end."
The couple owed the bank money from a loan, and had an overdraft, but claim when Mr Lloyd was diagnosed with cancer the Halifax, as the bank was then called, was told he had given up work and needed time to sort out finances.
But the bank called them persistently in 2006, including 184 calls in August and 169 in September, they claim.
The alleged harassment became so bad, they say, that it made Mr Lloyd psychologically incapable of working when he entered remission.
"We were getting telephone calls day after day," he said.
"We paid them what we could afford – but the following day we got another call."The bank also failed to update their records which upset us because we had to repeat my medical diagnosis time after time."
The couple changed their phone number, but claim the bank then telephoned Mrs Edwards' daughter Stefanie Moore, making between 60 and 100 calls to her mobile in four months, while her husband was in the armed forces overseas.
HBOS continued to call despite Mrs Moore telling them she was not involved, the couple say. She has now been joined into the proceedings and her claim will be heard at the same time.
HBOS declined to comment.
