Galway pensioner wins battle with bank over 1975 deposit

A Galway pensioner has won her battle with Ulster Bank to honour a lodgement made by her late husband more than 40 years ago.

Teresa Scahill (89) spent two years trying to access the money after finding a receipt for a £1,000 punts deposit when going through old documents at her home in Dunmore, Co Galway.

Frustrated with what she considered to be a lack of action from bank officials, she staged a series of protests outside the Ulster Bank in Tuam earlier this month in a bid to force it to honour the deposit made by her husband John, who died in 1990.

“John was diagnosed with a serious heart condition in 1975 and he wanted to put money aside for our two sons’ education,” she said.

“When I found the receipt I contacted the bank but they kept fobbing me off. All I had was the receipt, as there was no deposit books back in them days but they kept telling me they had no record of the account.

“I think they thought that because of my age I was talking nonsense but I kept writing to them and told them my patience was running thin. In the end I decided to protest outside the bank in the hope that that might get me somewhere.

“The lady who came out to me was lovely and I didn’t hold her responsible, she was only a cog in the wheel, but she offered me a chair and a cup of tea. Then a few days after the last protest I held I got a call from the bank offering me a sum of money.

"It turns out a photograph was taken of me outside the bank and it went up on Facebook. I was quite cross with my grandnephew who put the picture up but in the end, that seems to be what made them finally take notice."

Ms Scahill did not reveal the sum involved in the settlement but had estimated that the original £1,000 deposit had grown to £11,000 over the 40 years.

The bank had disputed this estimate.

She said the money would go towards her granddaughters’ education.

“This is what the money was intended for all those years ago and now that I have two granddaughters I will use the money to help them.

“That is what John wanted and he worked hard for his money so I’m just happy it’s all over with and I’ve got what I was entitled to.”