18-year-old girl, Charlotte Rusher with Down's Syndrome was denied an account at a branch of the Barclays bank, which declared that she was 'mentally incompetent'.
Charlotte and her mother Wendy from Ipswich, were appalled at the treatment meted out to them from the Barclays bank staff.According to Wendy Rusher the staff declared that the bank policies made it impossible to allow them to open a joint account, as her daughter was mentally incompetent. Although the staff offered Charlotte an account in her mother’s name, Wendy refused claiming that her daughter should have the right to access her money without her mother’s help.
Mrs Rusher lodged a formal complaint against Barclays. This was followed by an apology and an offer of £100 to Charlotte Rusher as a ‘gesture of good will’.
A spokeswoman from the Down's Syndrome Association condemned the case saying 'An adult with learning difficulties has exactly the same right as everybody else and we shouldn't be hearing of cases like this.'
As for the Barclays, their spokesman Alan White said: 'It is clear that our disability guidelines were misinterpreted and we have therefore clarified the appropriate procedures with the staff concerned to avoid any future occurrence.'
