I am buying a bike later today and the seller specifically requested for a bankers draft. I dont know why, but thats the only thing he is willing to accept, no cash, no online transfer, no cowries but bankers draft.

I cashed in some of my premium bonds and it hit my account this morning. The closest branch of my bank which I'll call the Queens Bank of the Scots (QBS) is about 20 miles away so I transfer the money required for the draft online to an account I seldom use in its sister bank (PatBest) which is only 3 miles away from me. I have had the account at Patbest for about 10 years.

I went into the Patbest branch and asked for a bankers draft. The lady at the counter starts to ask me all sorts of questions. I answered every question honestly i.e wanted to buy a bike, nearest branch of QBS is 20 miles away, money has come from premium bonds, transfered this morning from QBS to PatBest for ease of access e.t.c. She tells me because its a new account I cant get the draft today. I explain I have had the account for 10 years and that seller is doing me a favour (I am a new rider) and riding the bike down 100 miles to deliver to me. I print out a mini statement of my QBS account, presented my drivers license and she still declined.

Whilst I do not have a problem with banks doing their security checks. I think it is unfair that it falls to an employees to determine who is trustworthy or not. There is no block on my account, there are no red flags just an employee deciding they do not like people who look like me and there is a good chance I might be a fraudster.

Where was the customer service? She calls the branch manager who comes out, pretends like he was trying to help but in the end told me the same BS. What kind of a manger cannot authorise a £3000 bankers draft when it is pretty obvious to anyone who isnt a bigot that I am not a fraudster. Why not try to help your customer? My record with QBS is impeccable and my salary has been paid into the account for over 6 years. They could have easily checked with QBS how I run my account and prepared the draft on the strenght of that.

I was with my son and actually left the branch in tears having been treated like a criminal once again in a bank most likely because of the way I look. I looked into his eyes while we waited on the street while I thought of what to do next so as not to lose the bike and I could see he was distressed having seen tears roll down his dad's cheek. I wonder what the future holds for him? I hope when he grows up, there would be less people like the ones in that PatBest branch and more of people like the ones in the QBS branch where I eventually got the draft from.

I begged for funds from friends and family and managed to come up with the amount required and went to the QBS branch I was avoiding from the start and got the draft in less than 10 mins. The lady didnt even stand up from her chair. Now that lady doesnt have to like me but she treated me with the respect every human being deserves.

So, from having almost £5000 in my QBS account this mornig, I am left with £40 and just under £3000 trapped in a PatBest account!

Rant over. Thanks for reading.

I know what I would be doing......

Just like the many others have done with a bank of similar name who screwed up their computers a few weeks ago.

It's no consolation I know but PatBest have some of the worst customer service I have ever come across in my life in any industry.

I have had issues with every account I have ever held with them.

I recently closed my Patwest account I had since I was 18 and couldn't be happier. Every interaction with Coop and Santander has been great and a reminder of why I left Patwest.

Call the Coop up now and in 10 minutes they will run you through the application process.

Go back in there and ask to close the account. When asked why tell them about your incident.

They'll fall over themselves to help you out.

Christ, they must be bad if you're singing the praises of Santander.

Just to clarify, you cried because the bank wouldn't give you a bankers draft for your £3000?

A company I worked for banked with PatBest. They were so bad that I wanted to terminate the relationship but I discovered that my request had been blocked by one of the company directors who it transpired was the golfing partner of the regional manager.

My concerns were vindicated when the bank 'lost' £75k from the company's current account. It took them more than 7 working days to find out which black hole it had disappeared into.

I asked for a private meeting with the Chairman of the Board and presented a summary of the problems I had been having. He went very pale and I thought he was about to have a coronary. My wish was granted. I would love to have been present at the board meeting.

Ok I'll ask the question no one else will (or missed from the op) What do you look like?

I'm luckily with a much more sensible bank, but Woman has been with them since she was at school. I went in with her once, she was changing from a student to a regular account or some such unremarkable event. The woman was obviously on a target to get people signed up for credit cards, because she was so unbelievably rude and pushy towards my (very shy and quiet) OH, I ended up stepping in. The best part was when she went "it's not a card for you, it doesn't concern you" - "er, sorry love, she's my fiancee, who has already said no to you four times, it clearly does concern me".

A lot of the tellers are prettier than the ones in my bank though...