Facts
- HM Customs and Excise Commissioners ordered Barclays bank to put a freezing injunction upon the accounts of one of their customers to prevent withdrawal of money which had been legal seized for tax evasion
- Barclays negligently dealt with this request, so the criminal (customer) got his money out and fled
Issue
- Could Barclays be liable for their negligent actions?
Decision
- No liability
Reasoning
- No duty to stop the owner of his money taking his money, and Barclays did not attempt to ignore a court order
- The Caparo test shows whether there is an assumption of responsibility, there wasn’t in this case
