Grieving widower unhappy after bank sent him letter offering him condolences for his own death

A bank has sent a grieving widower a letter offering him their condolences for his own death. Rex Rowe, 83, lost his 70-year-old wife Sandra earlier this month after a life-long battle with a heart condition. After updating the details of their joint account with Barclays Bank, Mr Rowe was upset at receiving a letter from the financial giant offering their condolences for his death instead.



"I had to pinch myself just to make sure," said Mr Rowe, who lives in Aspley, Nottingham. "I just thought it was completely mad. It upset me because I'm already going through losing my wife and now they've got me down as deceased. They ought to improve their standards. I wouldn't have expected a bank to make an error like that."



Mr Rowe had already had trouble since Sandra passed away, with Marks and Spencer Bank doubling his car insurance premiums. Barclays has apologised for the error and offered to make a donation towards Mr Rowe's chosen charity Cardiac Support Group Nottingham as a goodwill gesture. The amount is yet to be confirmed.



A spokeswoman for Barclays said: "We offer our sincere apologies to Mr Rowe for our error. We appreciate this is an extremely difficult time for him and as such we would like to offer a gesture of goodwill for any distress our letter may have caused. It has been agreed that this gesture will be in the form of a donation to the Cardiac Support Group in Nottingham."