Law student claims AIB slandered him in branch incident
Darren Reid, of Lansdowne Valley, Slieve Bloom Road, Drimnagh, Dublin, told the Circuit Civil Court that Grainne Hurley had thrown her hands in the air and screamed when he approached her station.
Ms Hurley, now an assistant manager with AIB in its Grafton Street, Dublin, branch denied that such an incident had taken place and the bank has lodged a full denial and defence to Mr Reid’s claim.
Barrister John P Kehoe, for Reid, told Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery that the court would hear that another bank official had approached Mr Reid and told him if he did not leave he would call the gardaí.
Mr Reid said that on October 15, 2009, he had gone to the branch with the intention of asking the bank to desist from offering him loan facilities he did not want. He had joined the queue for the customer service counter and had eventually approached Ms Hurley.
“She looked at me through her fingers and screamed ‘I’m not serving you, you have been on Crimeline’,” Mr Reid told the court. He said she had run off and had spoken to a colleague. He said a Hugh Dunlop approached him and told him that if he did not leave he would call the gardaí. He repeated this before Mr Reid left. He said several people had overheard what was said and were looking at him.
Mr Reid said he had never been on Crimeline.
Ms Hurley said Mr Reid had called to the counter with a mini-statement of his account and had spoken to her about excess charges of €49 connected with his exceeding his €450 overdraft facility.
She told Gemma Carroll, for the bank, that Mr Reid had become loud, agitated and aggressive and she had asked him to calm down. She had stepped back to speak to Mr Dunlop, who joined them at the counter.
“Mr Reid became very angry, pointed his finger at me and said something which included the word ‘slanderisation’ but I cannot remember the exact statement,” she said.
Ms Hurley told the court that at no stage had she said “you have been on Crimeline” to Mr Reid or that she was not serving him. She had not screamed and had not thrown her hands in the air.
The case will continue next week.
