A WOMAN who tried to bank a cheque in her daughter's joint bank account was stunned when the cashier exclaimed: "That's my account!"

A bizarre mix-up at the Abbey National, in High Ousegate, York, had led to Helen Rathmell's daughter and her partner, Tom Stelling, somehow being given the same account number as the cashier.

But Tom and his partner say that even when the Abbey gave them a new account, their problems were only just beginning.

He said they were assured that all the direct debits set up for the old account would be transferred to the new one. "They said we wouldn't have to lift a finger," he said.

But then they began receiving letters from other Abbey organisations over direct debit payments due for their mortgage and a Payment Care mortgage protection scheme.

The letters said the Abbey had said that their account had been closed and their last direct debit payments had been rejected.

One letter warned that payments must be made every month, and a cheque should be sent within a week to prevent a policy lapsing.

The couple were told to send direct debit instructions so that payments could be collected in future from their new account. Tom said they did so, and rang up as well, but they carried on getting more such letters.

On one occasion, someone even suggested problems had arisen because there were not enough funds in the account - which was just not true.

"I cannot believe the level of service we have been given," he said. "We feel totally let down and stressed out from the lack of professionalism."

The couple said the bank's manager had now told them they would be given £100 compensation, plus £50 for phone calls, after admitting a big mistake had been made.

An Abbey spokeswoman said a genuine error had been made with the bank account number, adding that this was something which very rarely happened.

"At the time I believe we apologised and compensated them with £100," she said.

"We then gave them a new account number. When we were transferring the joint bank account, one of the direct debits did not go through the Payment Care, which means they missed paying for their mortgage protection.

"That was our error and we sent our sincere apologies and gave them £20.

"I don't believe there have been any errors since, but we will send them a full letter of apology to explain what's happened, issue them with a further £50 and double check all their direct debits and account details."

Updated: 10:29 Wednesday, October 20, 2004