To be able to understand the person who I am talking to, banks!

annep1 it was already blocked, I tried to reset it, she said I answered the questions wrong, but I could barely tell what she was saying , her English was pretty bad.

Will ring back tomorrow and hopefully speak to another who I can understand and ask for something to my address rather than a trip out.

Two of my banks have closed in our town, they seem to be disappearing at a rate these days.

My almost sole reason for using First Direct is that their call centre is in the U.K. . I cannot deal with overseas call centres.

Yes, I sympathise. My "key" to get into my account recently failed and I spoke to someone at the bank who understood me to a point, and I specifically asked for it to be sent to my home address. A week later no "key" - rang again and it had been sent to my "nearest" bank - a 30 mile round trip and I don't drive! Another call that took almost 25 minutes to get one sent to my home. When things work well they are brilliant, but come across a problem and it all goes upside down!

That's why I don't bank online.
I think I managed to actually get on to my account once before being locked out time upon time again.

That sounds very odd Did the person actually tell you she was locking you? Or was it an automated voice?