A bank worker who was held at gun point during an armed robbery has received £4,000 in compensation after Lloyds TSB failed to protect her in the workplace.
The bank in Birmingham failed to put security measures in place despite a security review following a robbery just 18 months earlier.
The review had called for the bank to put bars on all its windows, but the bank failed to put them on all of its ground floor windows.
During the incident two armed robbers got into the bank after breaking a ground floor window.
They held the worker and her colleagues at gun point taking an undisclosed amount of cash from the safe. They were never caught.
She was not physically injured but was left seriously traumatised. She attended two counselling sessions organised by the bank but despite the counsellor suggesting she needed further counselling the recommendations were not acted on.
As a result more than 12 months after the incident she was still suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
She contacted her union Lloyds TSB Group Union which instructed its lawyers Thompsons Solicitors to pursue a claim for compensation.
Lloyds TSB admitted liability after it was found the branch had been given an increased risk rating following a previous raid. A report on security had recommended that all the windows were fitted with vertical bars. While all the first floor windows were fitted, some of the ground floor windows and the window nearest the safe were not.
Thompsons argued that if the recommendations in the report had been followed the raid may have been averted.
Mark Brown from Lloyds TSB Group Union said: “It is difficult to believe that this branch did not do everything it could to protect its staff and customers from a robbery like this particularly after recommendations had been made on how it could improve its security.
“We are pleased we have been able to support this member in her fight for compensation and hope now she can move on with her life.”
Elizabeth Ford from Thompsons Solicitors said: “It is unforgiveable that Lloyds TSB did not carry out in full the recommendations of this report. As a result this young woman was caught up in an armed robbery which could have been a lot worse. She is fortunate that she survived with no physical injuries but has spent the last two years picking up the pieces of her life after she was denied much needed extra counselling from the bank.”
