A number of customers have had this problem with Abbey National so I asked them for some information and a number of people have said they were not notified:
"Thanks for your e-mail.
We have begun and will continue over the next few weeks to collect charges on some personal banking accounts which were due to debit from January 2009 onwards. The transactions that incurred these charges may have occurred from as early as November 2008.
Customers were notified as normal of any charges incurred and the date they would debit via their statement. However, these charges were not collected on the specified date but are now being collected from accounts.
Customers may call to query any debits from their account on 0845 9724 724. We are available 8am to 9pm, Monday to Saturday.
Regards
Abbey Customer Services"
"Thanks for your e-mail.
We have begun and will continue over the next few weeks to collect charges on some personal banking accounts which were due to debit from January 2009 onwards. The transactions that incurred these charges may have occurred from as early as November 2008.
Customers were notified as normal of any charges incurred and the date they would debit via their statement. However, these charges were not collected on the specified date but are now being collected from accounts.
Customers may call to query any debits from their account on 0845 9724 724. We are available 8am to 9pm, Monday to Saturday.
Regards
Abbey Customer Services"