A BANK that threatened a teenager with legal action if she failed to pay £15,000 fraudulently removed from her account has dropped the case following an investigation by the Enfield Independent.

Abbey National - now Santander - has sent Lauren Dee monthly letters asking her to pay the money since November 2008, when she lost her card in Oxford Street, central London.

Only 16 at the time, she failed to report the card for two weeks - by which time £15,000 had been deposited in fake cheques and removed.

Rather than drop the charges, the bank said Lauren was liable because the money had been taken out using a PIN number.

Six weeks ago she received a letter from Moorcroft Debt Recovery Ltd threatening her with legal action "without further notice" if she failed to settle the outstanding balance.

Despite dozens of phonecalls by her parents, Santander refused to back down - until contacted by the Enfield Independent.

Yesterday, the bank apologised for the "distress" caused and agreed to waive the debt.

Lauren's stepfather, Patrick Maxwell, 45, said: "It is such wonderful news they are dropping the case. It's completely unbelievable.

"We have gone from anger and outrage to elation in one day. We tried to talk sense to them so many times, but customers are just numbers to them - they don't want to listen at all.

"We couldn't believe they were finding her liable just because her PIN was used - anyone could have seen her using it, or cloned her card."

Mr Maxwell, a Tube driver on the Northern Line, said the financial stability of the family of five would have been "on the line" if bailiffs had arrived at their home in Downs Road, Enfield.

He added: "Lauren couldn't really comprehend what was happening and she was very tearful about it.

"My wife and I were both extremely worried."

Santander, a Spanish banking giant, is renowned for insisting its customers are responsible for fraud and refusing to repay money taken without their knowledge.

The website www.abbeyfraud.com relates hundreds of cases similar to Lauren's, many of whom never recovered their money.

Emma Woolf had £10,000 withdrawn from her account without her knowledge, but Santander suggested her fiancé had stolen the cash. The bank only returned the money a year later when the police arrested a Santander employee for fraud.

Jilo Katter, a 23-year-old student from Coventry, was held liable for £14,000 withdrawn by fraudsters with her PIN after losing her card. Santander emptied her account of £1,500 to repay the debt and is now charging her £300 interest a month on the outstanding balance.

Santander has not explained why it failed to drop Lauren's case for two years.

Santander spokesman Andy Smith said: “Santander has reviewed the case and decided to waive the debt.

"We will also restore Miss Dee’s credit history.

"Santander would like to apologise for the distress caused and we will be writing to our customer shortly to confirm our actions.”