Legal Requirement For Data Protection?

[joinerjohn]

I remember in August 1981 when my mum died. She had about £400 in a joint savings account with the NatWest. My dad also had another account there. As she had died "Intestate" (without a will) , my dad asked me to sort out the bank account. I asked if the balance could be transferred to my father's account and produced the death certificate etc (strange, how many death certificates you actually need when someone dies) and they said they'd sort it out. A week later and it's still not been sorted out, then they told me , it's up to my father to come in and deal with it. I told them my dad was in no fit state to be dealing with mum's financial affairs and surely they could sort it out with everything I had supplied to them, but no.
Eventually (many months later) my dad sorted it out, closed both accounts and moved to another bank. He'd been with the NatWest for around 30 yrs too. And there was no data protection act in those days.