... and thanks for the very helpful replies - I shall follow your sagacious advice.

Well she is 87 - maybe her memory is not what it was.

My mother had a mortgage with Abbey National September 1974 to June 1986. She filled in Martin Lewis' proform and sent it in to Abbey National. They have come back to her saying they have no record of her account so could she provide the sales receipt for the policy and policy document. She was given neither a sales receipt nor a policy document, so can provide neither. I see mention on here of sending in an SAR, but surely this would come back with 'we are unable to find a record of your account' again, so I can't see this would be useful. Where do we go from here?