Comment by Potando

"nothing could be done over the phone, though I was welcome to walk into a branch and try my luck there" - This is sadly common with UK banks. They want you to go to the branch for all sorts of things that really don't need it, but the branch is always closed or overcrowded when you have time to get there. It doesn't help that you have to use your own branch, not any of the others - as if they don't have a computer network between them? Or perhaps they feel the local staff somehow remember who you are and what your tedious banking problems are? Somehow they decide there's no need to be open in the morning, evening or Saturday afternoons, even though they're turning people away and squeezing the bloated queue inside the doors so they can get ready to close. I was also overseas when I was told the only way to get the few thousand pounds from my account was to go the the branch. Eventually they found another way.