Money Grouse: Deadline dash was thwarted

THE end of the tax year dash to put the maximum amount of money into personal equity plans has left many people less than satisfied with the standard of service offered by some providers.

Chris King, who runs a recruitment agency, was introduced to an investment adviser working for Royal Scottish by his bank manager. He banks with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which partly owns Royal Scottish.

The adviser gave him information on two PEPs, and also recommended that he take out a single-company PEP with Capital House, another Royal Bank subsidiary.

Mr King was interested in taking out a single-company PEP investing in Reuter shares. He met an adviser from the company towards the end of March - close to the year-end deadline.

After making the recommendation that Mr King use Capital House for the single- company PEP, the adviser discovered that the fund management company no longer offered them.

Mr King was furious, as he was running up against the end-of-year deadline. He went to James Capel and was able to get a single-company PEP, but not one that held Reuter shares.

Royal Scottish said that its consultant had made an error and apologised. It also offered to compensate him for any loss that had resulted.

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