Deal Or No Deal’s Noel Edmonds accuses Lloyds of ‘foot dragging’ over his £50million fraud compensation claim
The TV presenter claims ex-bank employee helped destroy his business in a scam and says the lender has 'no urgency' to pay him back
NOEL Edmonds has accused Lloyds Banking Group of “foot dragging” on compensation payouts to fraud victims.
The ex-Deal Or No Deal host is demanding a meeting with chairman Lord Blackwell after launching a £50million compensation claim against the giant lender and claiming he has suffered "deep distress and public humiliation" caused by fraud at the hands of former HBOS staff.
A group of corrupt HBOS financiers were jailed earlier this year for carrying out a £245 million loans scam that destroyed several businesses, before they squandered the profits on high-end prostitutes and luxury holidays.
Noel claims that one convicted ex-HBOS employee, Mark Dobson, helped destroy his former business Unique Group.
Noel wrote to Tory peer Lord Blackwell complaining that “only one individual” had been “tasked with assessing 100 victims’ claims”.
He added that "no urgency whatsoever" has been shown by the bank to meet compensation claims, claiming instead that Lloyds has been "foot dragging".
MOST READ IN UK NEWS
The television presenter also criticises Lloyd's boss Antonio Horta-Osorio for refusing to meet with him, and urges Lord Blackwell to take up the baton.
Lloyds said last month that it would begin making compensation offers to HBOS fraud victims in May from a £100 million pot, with payments expected to begin in June.
The bank added that if a review determined that the level of compensation requires it to increase the provision then "we will absolutely do so".
Noel's solicitor Jonathan Coad, from Keystone Law, said: "Lloyds has known for at least four years both that its employees have acted unlawfully towards many of their customers, and that their victims have suffered severely as a consequence.
"Far too late both its chairman and chief executive have pledged that compensation will be paid promptly, at a time when payments should have been well under way. But the bank continues to drag its feet. It is disgraceful that to date no compensation has been paid by the bank to victims of its fraud."