Having got the impression that Alliance & Leicester had not in fact even read my previous letter completely I sent them this;

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please read this letter carefully. If Alliance & Leicester choose to reply to this letter with a fact sheet similar to the reply I received from my last piece of correspondence, it will be accepted that Alliance & Leicester has refused my conditions, and I will pursue further legal avenues.

Thank you for your letter dated 16^th October 2007 from a D Bollard in your customer service division. This correspondence is with regard to account number *********.

I contacted Alliance & Leicester by post (dated 11^th October 2007) recently with regard to the exorbitant overdraft charges levied on current accounts. The response to this letter was a standard template detailing how Alliance & Leicester have suspended all Charge related complaints procedures until such a date as a ruling is made in the OFT High Court test case.

In my previous letter I explained that, to the best of my knowledge, Alliance & Leicester is not involved in the High Court test case, and therefore is not party to the waiver issued by the Financial Services Authority.

As I have explained previously, I am willing to wait for the outcome of this test case, so long as several conditions are met.

I will outline these conditions again for you later in this letter. I was told by the advisor that I spoke to on the 11^th of October that no further letters would be sent to my address in relation to this issue, until such a time as a ruling is made.

I have previously stated to Alliance & Leicester why I am not willing to pay these charges, and will not use either of our time unnecessarily by doing so again.

In order for me to consent to awaiting the outcome of the High Court test case, Alliance & Leicester must provide me with written confirmation that they will adhere to the following conditions;

1. No further overdraft charges will be levied against my account for the duration of the test case.

2. Debit interest may only be charged for the £9.67 that my most recent statement shows as being in debit.

3. Debit interest will not be charged against the charges levied by Alliance & Leicester thus far

4. Alliance & Leicester will recognise that if these conditions are not met, then I will pursue whichever legal avenue I feel is appropriate. This could include the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Courts, or any other courses of action that I deem fit. Before taking such action I will however give Alliance & Leicester notice in writing.

I am not willing to pay these charges, and will not be depositing money into the account until this matter is resolved. Alliance & Leicester have not dispensed the additional charges to me, but instead have directly debited my account. I have never been in possession of the money Alliance & Leicester alleges that I owe, and I did not seek to borrow this amount. Furthermore I did not give permission for these charges to be levied.

Whilst we await resolution of this matter, I will not hesitate to pursue legal action if Alliance and Leicester elect to pass my details onto any outside agencies for the purpose of reclaiming funds that they allege I owe.

Similarly if my credit history is affected then I will pursue legal avenues. If Alliance & Leicester truly wishes to await clarification of the law then it should find little issue in complying with the conditions I have set.

I will state once again that as Alliance & Leicester has not dispensed the money that it alleges to have 'loaned' me, Alliance & Leicester will not be accruing interest themselves, therefore Alliance & Leicester has no need to levy debit interest on my account for any amount other than Nine Pounds Sixty Seven pence.

Once this matter is resolved I will deposit funds into the account to ensure that the account remains in credit.

Please send written confirmation of Alliance & Leicester's acceptance of my conditions no later than the 25^th of October 2007. I would appreciate it if you would also update your system to prevent any further reminders being sent with regard to my account being in debit.

If Alliance & Leicester does not accept my conditions, or requires clarification then please contact me in writing before the 25^th so that I can pursue further legal action, or provide clarification as necessary.

May I also take this opportunity to remind Alliance & Leicester of the opening statement of this letter. If Alliance & Leicester choose to reply to this letter with a fact sheet similar to the reply I received from my last piece of correspondence, it will be accepted that Alliance & Leicester has refused my conditions, and I will pursue further legal avenues.

Many thanks for your time

Your sincerely

Ben Tasker

Once again I played the waiting game, which is very hard to do when the bank is charging you £25 a week.  They sort of complied with my request to not receive another of the Test case information sheets, in that they sent me nothing.