Bailiffs Sent in Against Royal Bank of Scotland

The Guardian (Saturday 20th January 2007) reports that bailifs were sent into the Royal Bank of Scotland last week as part of Declan Purcell's action against them to recover excessive default charges. Mr Purcell had previously successfully sued the bank in the County Court for over £3,000 in overdraft fees charged against his small business account between 2002 and 2004.

Despite obtaining a judgment against the bank towards the end of last year, Mr Purcell's claim had effectively been ignored by RBS and no acknowledgement of the outstanding amount was ever given to him. Not to be deterred, Mr Purcell then issued a bailiffs warrant via the County Court, and last week the bailifs impounded computers and other office equipment in a London branch of the bank under the terms of a 'walking possession' agreement. This had the desired effect with RBS forced to cough up the cash to prevent the items being taken away.