Ref. 73126-23A SWINDON man who left the country for ten years says he has returned to the town as the 'invisible man'.

When Michael Forde, 46, first came back from America he discovered that his building society account had disappeared, he couldn't register with a doctor and the post office were unable to find his new address.

To add to his woes, Michael, a painter and decorator, has not been able to find a job.

And while most of his troubles have now been sorted out he still cannot get hold of the £300 he left in the Woolwich a decade ago.

Michael, who now lives in Victoria Road, Old Town, said: "They told me I had closed the account, but it's impossible as I hadn't set foot in this country in ten years. It's my £300 and I want it back.

"You put money in a savings account to save it."

At an average four per cent interest rate, he would be due an extra £147 in accumulated interest.

He said: "I'm just wondering how many other people have gone through this, maybe for a smaller amount, and decided it's not worth fighting for a small amount like that.

"Maybe £300 is not a lot to them but it is to me. I had to borrow from my mum to find my rent, and she doesn't have a lot of money either."

Michael left the town when he was offered a job by fellow Swindonian, Pete Curtis, in La Verne, California.

He said: "I didn't have a job so I thought I would try it out over there. It was great, but after ten years I wanted to come back to my home town. I have two sisters, a brother and my mum in Swindon.

"I wandered round for two weeks trying to get registered for a doctor. I felt like the invisible man, walking round aimlessly getting nowhere."

A spokesman for The Woolwich said when an account has not been used for two years the bank tries to contact the customer.

He said: "If we do not receive a reply we have to assume that the customer has moved and in order to prevent possible fraud and for the protection of the clients

money the account is then registered as dormant.

"The account is effectively

closed and the funds transferred to a secure central account. The funds remain the property of the customer at all times and will

continue to earn the appropriate rate of interest."

"We will be liaising with Mr Forde in endeavouring to locate his account."

What's changed?

IN the ten years Michael Forde has been away from Swindon he has noticed a lot of changes.

He said: "I don't remember hearing police sirens as they used to be so rare. Perhaps that's because traffic wasn't so bad. My brothers and sisters never had cars back then but they all do now."

While Michael was in America Swindon has mushroomed.

He said: "I don't know where a lot of places are. I had to go to a doctor at Abbey Meads. I'd never heard of it, let alone knew how to get there." He believes that pubs have changed enormously during his time away.

He said: "Everyone had their local but it doesn't seem the same now. Mine was the Vic in Victoria Road. It just doesn't seem like a pub any more. Everybody knew each other. We used to have a great laugh. Nothing was serious. Nowadays there are so many rules."

He has discovered that job hunting has completely changed.

He said: "Back then your local pub was your job centre. Now it's all agencies. You don't apply to Honda for a job, you apply to an agency."

He said: "The weather hasn't changed, but there's not much we can do about that."

But it's still a good town, and it's still home."

David Andrew