Family-of-five say they were forced to rely on food banks after Barclays 'error' left them £1.5MILLION overdrawn
The Livermore family, from Worthing, have been forced to seek help from friends and family after their three Barclays accounts were each left £500,000 in debt.
Dad Paul and mum Kayleigh, both 31, have struggled to keep the family afloat and feed their three kids, aged 11, eight and seven due to what appears to have been a banking error.
Paul says the three accounts were all in credit before Easter weekend, but each had a deficit of around £500,000 afterwards.
He says he never had an overdraft in place but had agreed an emergency £10 buffer with the high street bank.
With the massive deficit, they defaulted on their payments for their car, tax, rent and phone bills.
Paul said: "Initially the account was suspended for ten working days and then they told me the accounts were going to be held indefinitely under investigation.
"The bank has also texted me saying that bills have not been paid and our mobile phone accounts have been suspended for outgoing calls as well as the home internet.
"We have pretty much been living off hand outs since Easter Monday, I have never been in a situation like this before and it is so embarrassing to ask for so much help.
"The kids are managing and we are making sure they are eating, they have lunch at school.
"The food bank gave us a lot of vegetables, fruit and items for the cupboard as well as some bread and milk.
"They have also offered to let us use the local homeless kitchen which helps those in need, it is really overwhelming how supportive everyone has been.
Paul is currently in negotiations with his bosses to try to free up some cash but has so far been unsuccessful.
He added: "I cried when I saw the figure, I was gobsmacked and didn't know what was going on.
"It's so confusing and stressful, we have missed payments for our car finance, tax and rent because of this."
Paul has no access to his accounts and has complained to Barclays but has yet to receive an explanation for the issue.
The dad-of-three added: "Maybe Barclays could explain why my account was suspended so abruptly with no explanation.
"I'm angry and disappointed, I have been a Barclays customer for over 15 years, it's not good enough."
Barclays have confirmed they are investigating the matter, but are currently unable to ascertain how long the matter will take to get sorted.
A Barclays spokesman told The Sun Online: “We’re currently looking into this.”
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