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Louis banks on customer service
Reporter: Marina Berry
Date online: 15 January 2013
THIEVES who ransacked a 92-year-old war veteran’s home rocked his confidence in human nature.
But Louis Butler’s faith was restored when a worker from his bank jumped in her car and went to help him when he rang to cancel his stolen credit cards.
Former Lancaster bomber wireless operator Louis got up at his home off Thornham Lane, Royton, last Thursday morning to find drawers pulled out and his home’s back door open.
A file containing personal documents, bank cards and cash was missing — as was his laptop computer. Luckily he had left his treasured Distinguished Flying Medal - which he received personally from King George VI in 1943 - to one of his daughters for safekeeping.
When he rang the bank and explained what had happened to Victoria Mowbray she drove to his home, made several calls to cancel his various cards and called the police.
One of Louis’ three daughters, Angela Hobson of Grasscroft, said: “Dad was disorientated; what Victoria did shows there are some very kind people left in this world.”
Neighbours and regulars at his favourite pub, the Turk’s Head were horrified to hear his house had been burgled while he slept.
“Dad is well-known and very well liked,” said Angela. “It must have been obvious to whoever broke in that an old person lived there.”
Modest Victoria (43) who works as a customer service officer at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Shaw said: “I don’t think I have done anything special. When he rang, I didn’t even know if he was a customer of ours or not. He was saying he was a 92-year-old man and he had been robbed.
“I was worried there was no-one at home with him and I couldn’t have that on my mind, especially if he was in shock.
“When I got to his house I recognised him, and realised he had been a customer of the bank for a long time. There are some despicable people out there.”
Anyone with information can contact police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
Comments
Well done to Victoria Mowbray. I hope her bosses are aware of her kindness, not just because she deserves recognition, but because she's a fantastic advert for the bank.
News like this makes my blood boil. I truly hope they catch the coward responsible.
I hope Mr Butler gets over the shock and disruption quickly.
Well done Victoria for your kindness to Mr Butler.
Flake maybe all senior citzens should wear sack cloth and ashes?
WELL DONE and fair play to Victoria ,she didnt have to do that,she did what she thought was the right thing to do and i applaud her for that,the bank should commend her for her actions.A truly appalling crime to a war veteren and what some people should remember is ,if it wasnt for the efforts of men & women like Louis Butler ,us younger people wouldnt be here today and the person who did this crime should remember that and hold his head in shame.
Obviously CPP you must find carrying £7000 on your person mere loose change, and I certainly don't regard that kind of money as 'sack cloth & ashes'
In this country we have things called banks & building societies where you can keep your money safe, there are points all over where you can access your money 24/7 for free!
Obviously you must be from a foreign country as you've clearly no knowledge of these things.
Senior citizens can wear what ever they please with their money safe !
I agree with Flake and Iv'e said it so many times,don't keep large amounts of cash in the house.I think CPP's comments unhelpfull.these elderly people need advice to thwart these low life,cannot some form of advice be past around?
Burglars are the scum of the earth they are in the same category as a paedophiles & scum bag druggies.
Flake /Ernie these scumbags still break in to old peoples homes when they have nowt, there was no mention of large amounts of cash missing in this case, you are making out that all senior citzens need to live a frugal life and have no money sense this is certainly not the case,
quote "if they had got nothing then they wouldn't bother" If the scum were give proper jail time maybe this maybe a detterent. Anyway got to rush and go to stick another 10k in my foreign bank account.
NO CPP that isn't what either of us are saying! We are saying that OAPs need to keep the minimum amount of cash about their person and in their homes. Nellie Whatmore had a substantial amount on her, and there have been countless other stories too.
Hearing stories like these the scum assume every OAP will have a lot of cash and that then makes them a target. You don't have an understanding of these criminals this is about drugs, prison doesn't matter to them. The next fix is everything.
Flake you have a big opinion on everything, if someone wants to carry excess money on them then they should, its there choice NOT YOURS. Me, i would stick it in the bank.....
At the end of the day its all down to the UK being known for its soft touch where criminals are concerned. Hunt down the drug dealers thus reducing the drug addicts thus reducing the need to thieve to feed addictions. As said earlier, burglary is not viewed anywhere near as serious as it should be by our courts. Dish some minimum 5 year sentences out and see things change. Build more prisons to house these low lifes, i would happily accept a tax rise if that were the case.
Have Your Say
“It must have been obvious to whoever broke in that an old person lived there.”
Yes and it's not surprising that criminals target them when some of them carry truly stupid amounts of money. £7K for one woman in Manchester!
Again we hear that cash is missing and have to assume that it's been a worthwhile excercise for the scum who broke in.
We can only expect more stories like this, if they had got nothing then they wouldn't bother, but it's more lucrative than targetting the young.
By Flake @ 15/01/2013 14:20:44