Man chains himself to NatWest after being unable to complete mortgage deal

05 November 2010

A Twickenham man chained himself to a NatWest branch last week after being refused access to his account, which he urgently needed to complete a mortgage deal.

According to the Richmond and Twickenham Times, Andi Dardha, 28, used a bike lock to chain himself to a pole in the Richmond Branch of NatWest in a desperate attempt to be allowed to withdraw money.

The student says he recently had all of his IDs stolen, except for his student card, and as a result has had difficulty accessing his account.

Speaking to the local paper he said: "There was bank fraud to my account through NatWest - and the money was taken out from the Richmond branch. Now they've refunded the money but they aren't letting me access it.

"I'm a desperate man. I have been saving up for a long time for a mortgage and now it is going through and it is time for me to pay the solicitors but I can't.

"I can see the money but can't move it."

However, staff still couldn't help the man, leading to him calling the police instead, bringing the bank to a standstill.

The story has echoes of a recent case where a property developer from Dorset built a brick wall over the entrance of a bank of Barclays in a protest against being refused a loan.

Causing much less damage, Mr Dardha was removed from the pole by local police, taken to the station, but later released without charge.

Mr Dardha is still barred from his account, and as Bridging and Commercial understand it, he hasn't yet been able to access his funds.

A spokesman for NatWest said: "We are looking at resolving this matter as quickly as possible but we cannot comment about specific customers' accounts."