"The young lady serving me began typing away on her computer but all of a sudden looked puzzled and told me that according to their records, I was dead.

She went a bit pale, either because she was embarrassed at such a mistake or she thought she was seeing a ghost."

Mary Welsby's Isa account had been closed by Abbey and the £3,000 in it paid out.

The 77-year-old said: "I know I'm quite long in the tooth now but I'm certainly not dead."

Eventually, after the bank investigated further, it discovered that a woman with a name similar to hers and around the same age had died.

By mistake, Mrs Welsby's account had been closed and the money paid out to the dead woman's family.

via ananova.com