Bank of Scotland brands Thai wife ‘criminal’

A Bank of Scotland apology to a Scotsman has come after the bank labelled his Thai wife a “criminal.”

Ashby McGowan, from Glasgow and Thanaporn Sonkew, received £150 (US$180, 6,000 baht) for the “distress and inconvenience” they had been caused, according to The Nation.

McGowan and Thanaporn find themselves trapped in a “hostile environment” with ordinary law-abiding Thais seemingly automatically considered to be crooks. The battle for against Kafkaesque regulations for a Bank of Scotland apology has been quickly followed by entry into confusing maze of visa regulations.

The couple were married in a Buddhist ceremony in Thailand, but the Home Office did not recognise it and refused three visa applications .

They wed in Glasgow last month, but then McGowan spoke of the Bank of Scotland’s refusal to open a joint account for them.

When McGowan tried to send a small…