A PENSIONER took his fight with the biggest banking firm in the UK to the streets of Barrhead in 2008 – and won.

Andrew Barnes urged others to “stick up for themselves” when it came to challenging multi-national firms.

He protested outside the Bank of Scotland, on Main Street, until the manager agreed to cough up more than £3,000.

The sprightly 72-year-old made a stand on behalf of his daughter Rosalind and son-in law Stephen Francis after bank bosses refused to pay out holiday insurance.

The couple had to cancel their dream trip to Cuba after Stephen’s father suddenly passed away – but were left further devastated when told they would not be getting a single penny back.

Andrew said: “There was no way I was going to let them get away with this. You have to stand up to the establishment.

“The distressing thing for us all as a family is that this situation was unnecessary and we had to resort to protesting in order to get someone to speak to us.”

He added: “I was outside the bank for two hours before my daughter Rosalind spoke to the bank manager.

“The manager was very understanding and told us that two banking executives had agreed to refund the full cost of £3,359.

“It just shows that you have to stick up for yourself – otherwise, my daughter and her husband would still be out of pocket.”