A SOMERSET man is 'angry and upset' after his bank lost his will for 12 years. Brian Stevens says that if he had died during the time it was lost, his two children would not have received his house and savings. But NatWest bank says the will was never lo

A SOMERSET man is 'angry and upset' after his bank lost his will for 12 years. Brian Stevens says that if he had died during the time it was lost, his two children would not have received his house and savings.But NatWest bank says the will was never lost and has always been at its branch in Bath. In the 1980s Brian, aged 58, went into what was his local branch of NatWest in Bath, drew up the will and named the bank as executors and trustees. The branch closed in the early 1990s and Brian's account was transferred to another bank in Bath. When Brian moved to Chapel Allerton in 1986 his account was still at the Bath branch, but in 1994 he decided to move it to the Cheddar branch. In 2004, Brian wanted to shut his business account with the bank. While speaking to his bank manager, Brian discovered there was no record of his will. Brian, of Chapel Allerton, said: "The man on the phone just said 'what will?'. "They had no idea what I was talking about, even though I had been paying for them to look after it."When I moved from the Bath branch to Cheddar all my account numbers changed so I think that is why it was lost."I was told when I moved my account the will would move with me, so my solicitors thought it was in Cheddar."If Brian had died between 1994 and 2006, when the will was finally found in the bank's safe, solicitors would have referred back to the previous will, which left money to Brian's parents, instead of his daughter and son. Brian added: "They only found it because I asked them to look in the safe at my previous bank."It is not nice and I want an apology from NatWest. I can't help wondering how many other people this has happened to."Brian, who has been banking with NatWest since 1972, has now removed his will from the bank.A spokesman for NatWest said: "At Mr Stevens' request the will was originally held at our Bath Pump Room branch. When that closed in the 1990s, it was moved to the Old Bank branch where it is still safely stored today."* Pictured: Brian holding the letters that, he says, prove the bank lost his will.