Help me reclaim a £76 charge for £51 unpaid direct debit all thanks to lying cashier!

joe501

I have two direct debits that come out of my account with Natwest every month, a £45 mobile phone bill and a £6 mobile phone insurance bill.
As I have temporarily stopped working because of exams I don't have much in my account.

So I went in on the 18th of May and I asked the cashier whether I should cancel my direct debits as they were likely to go through any day and the cheque wouldn't clear in time. She told me there would be no charge if I didn't have enough money in my account to pay the DD, it would simply not be paid.

A week later I put in a cheque of £100.
I checked my online statement last night to find that I have been charged £38 for each unpaid DD! That's £76!

I was given the first charge before I put in the cheque. But in a combination of not being notified of this charge, and being told I would not be charged, meant I withdrew the last £10 in my account at an ATM. That £10 could have been used to pay the other, £6 DD! Saving me another £38 charge!

The first charge is partly my fault for not having the money - but I could have prevented this if the cashier told me the truth.
The second charge is entirely the bank's fault, as I was unaware of the first charge taking place, as well as the fact that the cashier told me there would be no charges.

I rang the bank and they said they would not give me my money back as there had been no bank error. Obviously I cannot prove a conversation with a cashier.

After a bit of persuasion they said they would put the complaint through to their regional bank enquiries. But they didnt sound hopeful and I don't know what to do when they ring me in the next 48 hours saying 'there was no bank error' again.

The worse thing is that, although I put a £100 cheque in, the charges the bank gave me mean I will not be able to pay the DD now anyway.
Will there be another charge at a later date if I can't get any more money in my account in time?

Do I have a case? Or will I be crushed by the banks power? I can't prove a conversation!

Please help me reclaim my money!

P.S partial statement link:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/6232/bankar2.jpg

joe501

Some more information - I rang the company that insure my phone, the £6 DD, and they said that they received payment for the date that the bank has charged me for!!

I'm sure the bank would not have paid that DD for me, as the charge was the same as for the other unpaid, £45 DD, and Carphone Warehouse say that one has not been paid.

So have the bank mistakenly charged me for the second, £6 DD?