A LEADING high street bank has been criticised for allowing a mentally ill man who thought he was a millionaire to borrow nearly £40,000.

Lloyds TSB failed to carry out proper checks on the 39-year-old man, who suffers from bipolar disorder and cannot be named, according to the Citizens Advice Bureau, which investigated the case.

The man, from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, built up a £70,000 debt by travelling the country and handing out cash to strangers.

He was allowed a series of loans over the past two years totalling nearly £40,000 by Lloyds TSB. The rest of his debt was built up using credit cards taken out with several banks.

However, the disorder had left him so deluded that he would forget where the money had come from. Believing that he was a philanthropist he travelled to cities such as Manchester and Liverpool and distribute bundles of cash to Big Issue sellers and homeless people.

His condition came to light only when he caused a commotion at a Burton upon Trent bank and the police were called. He was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and has now been given treatment for his disorder. He has since been declared bankrupt.

Financial advisers at the Citizens Advice Bureau said that the bank should have made more stringent checks before allowing the man to fall so heavily into debt.

Suman Antcliffe, a bureau money adviser, said: “The man was so ill he can’t even remember what happened.

“He managed to hold down a job but in his head he believed he was someone different. Although he was on a decent wage, the bank should not be handing out these sorts of sums without doing more checks. He was not a homeowner and had already run up other debts.

“They [Lloyds TSB] really need to ask questions of these people. He should not have been allowed to borrow that much money,” she said.

Lloyds TSB said that the Citizens Advice Bureau had not released details about the man and it could not make specific comments. “We take any allegations of this nature incredibly seriously,” a spokesman said.

“We would want to be able to respond specifically. Our hands our tied. We can’t answer any questions because nobody is telling us who the customer is.”

He said that the bank did not lend to people with a severe mental illness but he added that bank staff would not necessarily be able to identify customers with a condition such as bipolar disorder. “Our staff who work in branches are not doctors,” he said. “We as an organisation would not lend to people who are visibly and obviously mentally ill.”

The spokesman said no member of staff had any recollection of the police being called to the Burton upon Trent branch to attend to a customer making a scene.

Neil Tinning, the patron of the Manic Depression Fellowship, said that it was very common for people suffering from bipolar disorder, also referred to as manic depression, to have delusions and to run up debts as a result.

“It’s very common within the illness to get these types of delusions,” he said. “It’s very common for people to get into debt through going through periods of manic phases. You become delusional. You lose all sense of reality.”

He said that it would be very difficult for a bank to make a judgment on someone suffering from the disorder.

“When you are in a manic phase you come across as very confident and very sound,” he said. “I’ve actually experienced it myself where you go into this type of delusional thinking and the last thing you want to hear is that you are ill. You feel totally in control of any situation that might face you.”

Mr Tinning called on banks to write off the debts of people who borrowed money while in a manic phase.

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