ITC slams Barclays pyjama claim

Barclays 'big' campaign has divided opinion

A big budget TV ad for Barclays online banking which claims customers can pay their bills in the middle of the night has been branded 'misleading' by TV watchdogs.

We accept there may be a very short period in the middle of the night when an individual customer cannot access their account online

Barclays

Barclays has been forced to drop claims that it offers 24 hour banking after customers discovered its web site closes every night for maintenance.

In the TV ads actor Robbie Coltrane is shown paying bills in his pyjamas.

But Barclays has admitted customers who try to follow his example may be unable to access their accounts for up to 20 minutes.

Short period

Barclays has been forced to change the ads after the TV watchdog upheld two complaints from Barclays customers who had difficulty accessing their accounts at about midnight every night.

Barclays claims daily closure periods are standard practice in online banking - and it had made less play of 24 hour access than some of its competitors.

A Barclays spokesperson said: "Our advertising campaign last year suggested that 'with Britain's biggest bank you can access your account 24 hours a day'.

"We accept there may be a very short period in the middle of the night when an individual customer cannot access their account online.

"In light of the ITC's recent assessment of Barclays Online Banking adverts, this phrase has been dropped from our latest advertising campaign."

Award-winning

Barclays said the site may be closed for between five and twenty minutes and customers already logged on may experience a reduced service.

The Coltrane ad, by Hollywood director Tony Scott, will continue to air, with the offending claim edited out.

Last year, Barclays ran into trouble with a similar ad featuring Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins, which co-incided with a programme of branch closures.

Other actors to have featured in the award-winning Big series include Reservoir Dogs star Tim Roth and Nick Moran, from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.