Barclays buyer, 75, is visited by ARMED POLICE after joking he ‘wanted a bomb to get consideration’ in frustration at spending 4 hours on telephone

A pensioner was visited by armed police at his house after ‘jokingly’ asking a Barclays bank agent whether he needed to walk into a branch with ‘a bomb strapped to my shirt to get some attention’.

Eric Trim, 75, from Royston, Hertfordshire, was mystified after discovering that his £14,000 bank account was closed due to inactivity just weeks before Christmas.

The pensioner was forced to take out a loan to buy Christmas presents for his children and grandchildren before spending more than four hours on the phone to various different Barclays agents to resolve the issue.

After feeling as though he was getting ‘nowhere’ with each representative, he snapped in frustration and in a ‘tongue-in-cheek way’ said he will ‘walk into your bank in Cambridge’ and ‘tell them I’ve got a bomb strapped to my shirt to get your attention.’

Just two weeks later, two armed police officers arrived at his house to arrest him and suspended his firearms licence due to him being listed as a ‘threat’.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, the 75-year-old slammed Barclays bank for showing ‘no care’ towards him and questioned whether Britain has become a ‘police state’ after the officers arrived at his door.

A spokesperson for Barclays has said in response that ‘the safety of our customers and staff is our utmost priority’ and Mr Trim’s money will be returned to him ‘once the customer has provided some required information.’

Meanwhile, Cambridgeshire Constabulary confirmed that firearms officers did visit Mr Trim’s house in Bassingbourn and an investigation has since been launched.

Explaining the beginning of his ordeal, Mr Trim said he first discovered that his £14,000 bank account was closed when he tried to pay some bills.

‘I first called Barclays on December 12 to find out why they had closed my account without giving any notice,’ the pensioner said.

‘Christmas was a few days away, I had to get my children and grandchildren presents and, as an old age pensioner who relies on my state pension and nothing else, this account was my last pot of money. I needed it and relied on it.’

However, Mr Trim claims that the popular high street bank were just simply ‘not interested’. 

‘The first person I spoke to said they would get a manager to call me back in 48 hours, but I received nothing,’ he explained.

‘I phoned them up again on December 16 and had exactly the same conversation, with both calls lasting well over an hour. They just weren’t bothered. They kept saying “I’m so sorry about this” but there was no action. They weren’t offering a solution.

‘I just wanted some attention, so that was when I said: “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I’ll walk into your bank in Cambridge. I don’t know how I’m gonna get there yet, but I’ll, if I have to walk there and I’ll walk in and I’ll tell them I’ve got a bomb strapped to my shirt to get your attention?”

‘As soon as I said that, the agent just hung up on me straight away. At the time, I was just so frustrated, it was a tongue-in-cheek comment saying is this what an old age pensioner has to do to get your attention?

‘Cut forward to January 2, I had a knock at the door so I went to see who it is. Standing there was two armed policemen ready to arrest me, all because I joked that I was going to bomb the bank.

‘I was just shocked. I couldn’t believe it. Why would the police pick on an old age pensioner who hasn’t done anything wrong and is just asking for his money?

‘They also suspended my firearms licence, which I use sometimes to shoot pigeons when I can afford to, because I was apparently a threat. They made my son drive 30 miles to come and collect my weapons as he has a firearms licence, as well as my son in law.

‘I do question where this country is going and whether it is a police state in the making. Three police officers just arriving at my door like that.’

Asked what the officers said after he explained the situation, he added: ‘One of the officers just looked at me and said “I don’t believe this”, shaking his head.

‘When he took my licence away as well, he actually said he was sorry he had to do this.’

The following day, Mr Trim made another call to Barclays in a call that again lasted over an hour. He was told to fill out a form and bring it to one of the branches, but seeing as he lived 24 miles away he wanted to resolve the issue over the phone.

A week on from Mr Trim’s terrifying experience, he claims: ‘After speaking to people in my area, there are others in the same boat with Barclays who have had their accounts suspended due to inactivity.

‘I want Barclays to be accountable and made responsible for the people who are keeping them in business. Four of their representatives did not care about me. 

‘I also want them to acknowledge that they went too far in reporting this to the police so I can get my shotgun licence back. 

‘I mean, you only have to look at their Trustpilot rating. It’s not even two stars. When I checked, 84% of people gave them one out of five stars for customer service.’

A Barclays spokesperson said: ‘We do not tolerate threats to the safety of our customers and staff. 

‘After the customer in question made an aggressive and specific bomb threat towards a named branch, we notified the police in line with established procedure so they could evaluate the situation and, if appropriate, act on it. 

‘We are sorry to hear of the issues our customer faced following their account closure, however this action was taken after years of inactivity and follows standard protocols to protect customers from fraud. 

‘We only closed the account after sending multiple letters of notice both digitally and to the account’s registered address with no response. 

‘As our customer service team explained on several calls, once this customer has provided some required information we will be able to quickly return the funds to his nominated account.’

A force spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Constabulary told MailOnline: ‘We have received a report of malicious communications which allegedly took place at 11.30am on 27 December.

‘An investigation has been launched. Due to the nature of the communications, and as a precaution, firearms officers visited a house in Bassingbourn and enquiries continue.’