A local resident has asked The Caterham and District Independent newspaper to warn readers to check for forged bank notes when withdrawing money from their local bank. Jon Harrison from Chaldon Road, is being extra vigilant after both he and his son received a forged £20 note from Jon's bank twice in the last eight weeks.

Jon said: "Last Monday I withdrew some cash from over the counter at my branch of Lloyds Bank in Station Avenue. When I got home my wife asked if I had checked the notes, as eight weeks earlier our son had been handed a fake £20 note from the same branch of the bank. He didn't find this out until later, when his landlord paid the money into his bank. As the landlord's bank kept the note he had nothing to go back to Lloyds TSB with. So he lost £20 of hard earned money!"

Jon checked the notes he withdrew on Monday with a special 'Money Tester' pen, only to find that one of the notes was counterfeit. "I returned to the bank with the counterfeit note which Lloyds replaced for me," said Jon. "When I asked how that could be, a fake note being handed over the counter, the member of staff replied that they do not have time to check all the notes that come in as they have so many."

A spokesperson for Lloyds Bank issued the following statement: "It is standard banking procedure to check all cash that is paid in over the counter to ensure deposits do not contain any forged notes. On top of that, and in line with banking procedures, all banking notes are centrally checked for counterfeits prior to being delivered to the branch for use either at the counter or ATMs.

"We apologise that Mr Harrison received a counterfeit note from one of our counters. We were happy to replace this for him, taking the forged note out of circulation. Unfortunately we are not able to check the note his son believes was counterfeit. If Mr Harrison's son is able to provide evidence that his note was counterfeit from his bank, we will be happy to refund the sum in question to him."