Dismay as bank loses safe box

A father today said he was at his "wit's end" after a bank admitted it had lost a safety deposit box containing £190,000 of valuables belonging to his family.

Staff at Barclays Bank in Queen Square, Wolverhampton, told Tahir Kahan they could not find the steel storage box containing his life-savings which had been apparently under lock and key for more than 10 years.

The father-of-five says the items in the supposedly secure container, including his wife's gold wedding jewellery and £12,000 cash, were an investment for his children's future.

"I feel at the end of my tether and I don't know what I can do," said the 36-year-old company claims manager of Glentworth Gardens, Dunstall. "The bank say they are investigating where it has gone but I just don't understand how something like this can happen. You put things in a bank because they are meant to be the safest places possible, it's unbelievable."

Mr Khan has a signed certificate which shows he last opened the box and relocked it - with the only known key - in July 2008.

He added: "The bank has checked all of the 1,030 safety deposit boxes it has in storage and none of our belongings are in any of them."

Barclays head of corporate affairs Lisa Kennedy today admitted the branch manager was "unable to locate" the box.

She said: "We take situations such as this very seriously and have launched an investigation. We appreciate this situation will be causing concern and we will look to conclude this investigation as quickly as possible."