Not only does this strike me as entirely illegal, it's also pointless as this mind-numbing exchange indicates: He asked if he could return later that day to withdraw another £3,000, but he was told he could not do the same thing twice in one day. EDIT: not a day goes by in which we don't learn about another restriction of freedom in the UK, seems like.Mr Cotton says the staff refused to tell him how much he could have: "So I wrote out a few slips. I said, 'Can I have £5,000?' They said no. I said, 'Can I have £4,000?' They said no. And then I wrote one out for £3,000 and they said, 'OK, we'll give you that.' "
I didn't close my account but I certainly plan to open another one to provide an option. Also, worth noting that buried in the story is the following: "However, following feedback, we are immediately updating guidance to our customer facing staff to reiterate that it is not mandatory for customers to provide documentary evidence for large cash withdrawals, and on its own, failure to show evidence is not a reason to refuse a withdrawal." That in response to a woman who was asked to show a builder's quote in order to justify a large withdrawal. I don't make large cash withdrawals myself but should I want to, and were I asked to specify why, the two replies I plan on giving would be: "None of your business." and if pressed "Now, due to your policy, in order to close my account."