NatWest numpties

It may still be early in the day - but I'm on the warpath.

In common with most other people in this country, I don't care much for the banks.

And it's not because of those greedy bastards in London who commandeered billions of pounds of our cash to fill the void left by the fact that they're greedy bastards. No, it's because they're shit.

I'll save you the long list of "disappointments" they've inflicted on me down the years because I suspect you too will have a list every bit as long. So I'll just tell you why I'm currently annoyed.

Last Wednesday was St Patrick's Day and I was going to meet my mate Carson after work for a St Patrick's Day pint. Pints cost money, so I put my NatWest cash card into the wall - and it was promptly eaten.

So I marched straight into NatWest to report what had happened. The nice young girl apologised, said there was nothing wrong with my account, ordered me a new card and arranged for me to get some cash. Fair play to her, I thought. These things happen.

She said it would take seven to 10 working day for my new card to arrive but, only three days later, it popped through our letter box. Great, thought I, job well done.

Because I had taken out "an advance" to tide me over, I didn't have to use my new card until last night when I put it into the wall at Asda - and the wall ate it.

That was bad enough, but I've just checked my account online and discovered that £60 of "emergency cash" was withdrawn from my account on the day I originally lost my card - not by me it wasn't - and I've also been charged an extra £5 for the privilege of this happening.

Needless to say, NatWest will be my first port of call this morning.

And I will try to be nice but, somehow, I suspect I might fail in this particular endeavour.

PS Whilst searching for an appropriate picture to accompany this self-centred rant, I discovered a Facebook Group entitled "I Hate NatWest," which I've obviously joined. Their e-mail address is listed as we.dont.give.a.shit@natwest.com and, whilst I appreciate this is made up, at least they've got the right idea.