Blind and deaf pensioner in signature row

[R.A. Hettinga]

Sort of the opposite of "forget the password, lose the mortgage"...

:-)

Cheers,
RAH



<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=LQ
4T2XSVJQUDRQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/global/2008/04/18/noindex/nblind118.xml&s
ite=22&page=0
 >

The Telegraph

Blind and deaf pensioner in signature row
By Sophie Borland
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 18/04/2008




A blind and deaf woman has been forced to live off her savings for
almost a year because the Post Office will not let her withdraw her
pension as her signature does not match the one in its records.

Joan Hopton, who is deaf and blind, has not been able to collect her
pension for over a year

Joan Hopton, 81, of Cheltenham, Glos, lost her pension card in May
last year. However, when she applied for a new one she was told by the
company that it could not be issued because the name on the bottom of
the letter did not match her original signature.

She used to collect a pension of #104 a week and is now owed about
#4,000 since she lost her card.
Despite repeated attempts by members of her family to come to some
arrangement with Post Office Ltd the company will not let her access
the money.

When Mrs Hopton's daughter, Jennifer Lewis, contacted the company they
told her to get her mother to call them in person to try to come to
some arrangement. However, Mrs Hopton cannot use the telephone because
she is deaf.


The family have subsequently been told that they must write a letter
to Post Office Ltd to officially close the pension account so it can
be set up in either one of Mrs Hopton's daughter's names.

Mrs Lewis said: "It is disgusting. My mother is blind and deaf so it
might not be exactly the same but you could still tell it was her
signature.

"It is not as if we are trying to steal money and put it in my mum's
bank account. It is her money."

A Post Office spokesman said: "We are very sorry to learn of the
problems Mrs Hopton has had with her account. A member of our high
profile case team will contact her shortly to try to find a speedy
solution."