Halifax 'snubs' small businesses

A row erupted today between the Halifax and the small business community after an appalling gaffe by the bank suggested it did not want taxi drivers, window cleaners and market stall holders as its customers.

The insult looked even worse as it emerged on the day that the Halifax parent company HBOS announced profits of £2.6 billion. A Federation of Small Businesses spokesman said: "They should be ashamed of themselves. Given their profits, they have ample money to dip into the small business sector." Dennis Conyon, chairman of the Taxi Drivers Association, said: "The suggestion that we are secondclass citizens is appalling."

The list of customers to avoid was revealed when a flip chart used for staff training was left outside a branch of the Halifax in Manchester by mistake under the heading "We don't want".