Brave battle that means he deserves huge payout

AT first sight, Noel Edmonds’ substantial agreement with Lloyds Bank might look like yet another case of a celebrity cashing in.

Having spent hours with Noel, seeing the suffering etched on his face and hearing it in the timbre of his voice as he told me his story, it is nothing of the sort. He deserves proper recompense for the harm done to him by a high street lender he should have been able to trust.

In parallel with his TV career, he was building a business that he was convinced could become a lucrative entertainment empire. Maybe it would have, if he had enjoyed more support from his bank.

Noel is a Marmite personality people either love or hate. But whatever you think of him, he has fought a brave battle to win justice for victims of some truly despicable behaviour by the banks.

He is not the only one to have had his life wrecked at their hands. This kind of story is replicated many times among other entrepreneurs, who say the banks squeezed them dry in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

It has never been proven that the banks pursued a deliberate policy of assetstripping their own customers, but there are plenty of worrying individual cases.

Both Lloyds and RBS have set in train independent reviews and compensation schemes for customers.

This deal may not be the end of Noel’s fight with Lloyds but it is a major milestone. He is first and foremost a star of light entertainment. But for him and other victims who believe their firms were pillaged by the banks, this battle for justice is deadly serious.