A Shropshire man who changed his bank account password to “Lloyds is Pants” after an argument with the banking company was surprised to discover staff had switched it to “No We Are Not”.

Steve Jetley, 52, of Shrewsbury, used the cheeky password for phone and online banking for five years. But now he is having another set-to with Lloyds TSB after staff changed it without his permission.

Bank staff then refused his new suggestions because they were “inappropriate”.

Mr Jetley came up with the “pants” password after blaming Lloyds over a holiday insurance muddle which left him with a hefty bill.

He said: “I had cause to ring the call centre in Birmingham up again recently and I gave my password and it was accepted but then later when I was speaking to someone else it had been changed.

“I thought it was quite funny but then they wouldn’t let me change it back,” he added.Mr Jetley asked that it be re-set to “Lloyds is Rubbish” but was told no. He tried “Barclays is Better” but was told that was inappropriate.

After another rejection, he went for “Censorship” but was told it could only be six letters.

When he finally suggested “Faeces” he was informed new rules meant the characters had to be numbers, not letters. He then lodged a complaint.

A spokesman for Lloyds today said the password system had changed but as part of wider improvements, not due to this incident

The spokesman added: “We are hugely apologetic to the customer.

“The member of staff involved was acting out of normal bank policy, it is obviously not our policy to change passwords.

“It is disappointing that the customer in question felt the need to protest in this way, it is disappointing that he was displeased with the service and we are looking into this as a separate matter.

“The member of staff in question in this case doesn’t work for the group any more and we have a new password system where customers are required to use a six-digit pass number.”

Mr Jetley said he has no idea what his password currently is, or if he has one at all.

By Rhea Parsons