Mystery of bank’s missing CCTV tape
Mrs V.F. writes: My husband and I stopped at the HSBC branch in Market Harborough to withdraw cash for a night out. He tapped in a request for £200 at the cash machine, but when the money was dispensed the notes were crumpled and short by £40. Another customer counted the notes and agreed the cash was short, and we swapped details. We also counted the notes in front of the bank’s closed circuit television camera. My husband contacted Santander, where he banks, and it pursued the issue with HSBC, but after four weeks replied that our claim had been declined as HSBC said the £200 had been dispensed. HSBC has refused our request for a copy of the CCTV tape, citing the Data Protection Act.
IT IS hard to see what else you and your husband could have done. You have given me a copy of the cash machine slip showing a £200 withdrawal, and you have even given me a statement from a woman who was standing next to your husband and saw the money emerge from the machine, and then watched as you counted it and found it was short.
Of course, what might have clinched it in your favour was the CCTV tape, showing what happened next as you counted the money. It really was a nonsense for HSBC to say you could not have a copy of the tape because of data protection laws. In fact, the law on this matter is quite the opposite.
So, armed with a letter of authorisation signed by your husband, I contacted officials at HSBC’s head office. I gave them a copy of the witness statement. And I asked them for a copy of the tape from the bank’s CCTV camera.
After some time, the bank told me it no longer had the tape. It only keeps them for a month. So while your husband’s bank, Santander, was telling HSBC there was a problem and that he had been shortchanged by the cash machine, HSBC had destroyed the best evidence there might have been.
Nevertheless, HSBC added: ‘We were sorry to learn of the frustration experienced by Mr & Mrs F, and the time taken for this issue to be resolved. We have arranged for a refund of the £40 and provided them with an additional £40 for the inconvenience caused.’
Good – but I hope that if any other reader makes the same complaint in the future, we won’t find that HSBC has wiped its CCTV tapes after it knows that one of its cash machines has been less than honest.