The Great Bank Heist Mystery

By Allan L. Roberts

This is a story inspired by my personal experience with a bank.

After being made redundant, the bank refused to make payments on loans covered by personal protection insuranc

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookTrail Publishing
• Release date: May 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637671719

Allan L. Roberts

Allan is never one to rest on his past achievements, he lives and breathes the theme of this book. Pushing past limitations and adversities that would lead to most of us, just giving up. He continues to push himself out of his confort zone. Taking on new challenges to benefit and be of service to his local community of Droitwich. Until recently he served both as a local councilor and a trustee for Age UK Droitwich, as well as volunteering for local organisations and becoming involved with the local branch of Toastmasters. Where he started an outreach program at the local high school, introducing and teach students public speaking skills.

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Copyright © 2021 by Allan L. Roberts.

ISBN-978-1-63767-170-2 (Paperback)

ISBN-978-1-63767-171-9 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Introduction

This story is inspired by my personal experience with a bank. After being made redundant from my job servicing a major bank’s computer systems, I expected my loans to be covered by personal protection insurance as I had been paying the insurance since I took out the loans. However, the bank refused to make the payments. Continuing the payments until the bank sorted out the problem, I soon ran out of money.

My wife and I were hounded for payments after the bank refused to make the PPI payments. They added charges and interest, causing the debts to spiral, putting my marriage under extra pressure, and one of the main causes of the eventual breakdown. Unable to continue loan and mortgage payments, I was forced to sell my house well below market price to avoid repossession. With no money and no government support, I was living on the streets. My two daughters were also made homeless, initially survived by moving in with friends.

With no money for food, I dropped from over fifteen stone to less than eleven stone in four months. (I am a disabled diabetic and should have regular food.) The government refused to help me, even stopping my job seeker’s allowance. After nearly five months, they realised I had been entitled to the job seeker’s allowance, and finally, I received back pay and I managed to get a flat and a job.

Twelve years later, I find that the banks had deliberately conned people out of their money. They had no intention of making payments on the payment protection plans. Because of their greed, I now live alone in a very small, rented flat. I paid off my loans but lost my family and my house. The banks got their money, and they also earned a far higher rate of interest on the money I had paid than they had eventually paid me twelve years later in the refund.

The lack of food resulted in stomach complications including a laparotomy and fourteen years of learning to eat properly again. Forced to eat poor food, my diet also contributed to my loss of eyesight. The power of the banks meant they were not going to lose; they don’t care about the ordinary man in the street.

This is the imaginary story of someone facing the same situation but stronger, fitter, younger, and more capable of effecting his revenge on the bank directors who robbed him.

Chapter 1

In the heart of London, a door burst open.

Mike sprinted the twenty yards across the entrance hall past the startled customers and security staff to where the receptionist looked up in horror at the sight of a masked man holding a rifle pointing in her direction.

Before she had time to scream, Mike had grabbed her and forced her to the row of lifts in the foyer. Within the space of fewer than two minutes of entering the building, Mike was at the door of the board room on the twentieth floor.

The legend of the greatest British bank raid had begun.

Mike had taken an early interest in electronics; he had all the latest electronic gadgets. If none were available, he would set to and make it from scratch from bits he would salvage from other devices or purchase from other local electronics enthusiasts.

At the age of fifteen, he had already fashioned a name for himself as the person to take broken radios and televisions and computers for repair, and anything electrical or mechanical he would fix.

When he was old enough to ride a motorcycle, he had already earned enough from his hobby to buy his dream bike for cash.

The first thing he did with his bike was to strip it down and have around ten-thousandths of an inch skimmed from the cylinder to increase the power. He converted it to electronic ignition and rewired it to enable him to fit all his latest electronic contraptions.

He drove his motorcycles both on and off-road to the extreme, road racing, scrambling, and speed trials were all part of this obsession as were most things he tried. Mountaineering, hang gliding, canoeing, sub-aqua, and other extreme sports were all part of his life.

He was tall, muscular, confident, and a natural leader. He played hard, but he also worked hard, his naturally inquisitive mind always driving him to find answers.

School for Mike was an opportunity to learn and develop beyond the normal curriculum, constantly pushing all his teachers and instructors for more. He set up his groups of enthusiasts to delve into electronics to a depth that often left the teachers lagging.

With exceptional marks across the whole range of school subjects and his interests, it was no surprise that he opted for engineering, electronics, and chemistry for his degree subjects at university.

Engineering and chemistry gave him the opportunity to discover so many new things. He could learn and spent hours in the study groups and library improving his knowledge. However, when it came to the field of electronics, he found he was often more advanced than the university and only when the university had direct input from the electronics manufactures was he at a disadvantage, but his knowledge of circuitry, software, and an indispensable imagination soon had him creating new systems and devices the manufacturers had not even contemplated.