A pensioner has been forced to take legal action after a bank withheld his £193,000 inheritance. Peter Teich, 74, from Cambridge gave his solicitor the wrong sort code and the money was mistakenly transferred to another Barclays customer's account, who refused to return it. He expected to receive the money in April after his father's death. But he realised there was an issue when his sister received her inheritance and he did not. Mr Teich says his solicitor immediately contacted Barclays and was told it would take a week for the money to be returned. In May, Barclays wrote to Mr Teich saying he had been "mis-advised" about the funds being restored - and credited his account with a "small token gesture" of £25.

"I freely acknowledge my mistake in this unhappy saga," said Mr Teich. "I provided the sort code of the wrong Barclays branch. But my error fades into near insignificance when considered in the context of Barclays' conduct." He said he had given his correct name, address and Barclays account number in Cambridge to his solicitor, but the last two digits of his sort code were incorrect. He decided to seek legal advice and in June, after spending £12,000 in legal and court fees, he managed to obtain the other Barclays customer's name. But costs continued to rack up with Mr Teich spending £34,000 for a court injunction to force the other Barclays customer to pay.

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