A furious customer yesterday blasted Clarien Bank for blocking access to his account.

And the client said the bank had hit him with late payment fees for his mortgage after it refused to process transactions on his account.

The man, who asked not to be named, said his account was frozen because he had not complied with instructions in a letter sent out at the start of May.

But he said: “I didn’t get the letter — I got a phone call to say they sent a letter out to all their customers to say that, by June 30, all accounts, no matter what account, will be frozen if people didn’t come in with their passport and proof of residence.

“They said I would have to go into the bank to produce these documents — now they are going to hit me with a late payment penalty for my mortgage.”

The man said he had visited the bank’s Reid Street branch yesterday, which was packed with customers, many of them in the same position as him.

“They’ve had to set up a special desk. They’ve been flooded with people.”

The man, who yesterday produced his passport and a recent utility bill to satisfy the bank’s requirements, said his personal details hadn’t changed “forever.”

He added: “Nothing has changed on our documents, so I don’t understand why they froze the account.

“The whole process is just tedious. I don’t know what it’s all about, but you just don’t freeze people’s accounts, then add insult to injury by charging a penalty.”

The man said bank staff had told him even they had been hit by the freeze.

He said: “The lady that works there said the same thing had happened to her because the person she shares an account with is away right now, so couldn’t bring a passport in.

The customer added: “If there is someone else on an account and they are away, nothing can be done until they come back with their passport.”

A spokeswoman for Clarien yesterday said the bank would be unable to comment until today.