WHEN the global financial crash hit in 2008, images of people queueing to withdraw their money from struggling Northern Rock dominated the front pages.

The bank was eventually rescued in a government takeover – and the pictures faded from our minds and from the news.

However, behind the walls of Northern Rock branches, in files around the country, lay thousands of people who took out mortgages with the lender.

They were left in limbo, unclear on what was happening to their deal – and their homes.

Eventually, an estimated 200,000 mortgages held by Northern Rock were sold by the government, often to inactive lenders – and often at increased interest rates.

For many of those mortgage holders, the financial crisis has not gone away.

After the crash, the criteria for lenders handing out mortgages changed, becoming stricter in a bid to avoid landing people with unaffordable debt.

However, for those who already had mortgages, this left them stuck with the deal they were handed after Northern Rock’s collapse.

They couldn’t move their mortgage, as they no longer satisfied new lending criteria. So they were stuck with the higher rates imposed on them by their new provider.

They became mortgage prisoners, stuck paying higher rates, through no fault of their own.

Retired serviceman David Riley was among them.

In 2006, the 76-year-old former Royal Navy aircraft electrician bought a house in five-bedroom house in Martock, securing a £200,000 mortgage with Northern Rock.

But after the lender collapsed, his mortgage was eventually transferred by the government to TSB Whistletree at the end of 2015 – and he ended up being trapped into paying above the market rate for his mortgage.

Mr Riley is one of around 2,500 TSB Whistletree mortgage holders who is being represented by law firm Harcus Parker during a four-day High Court trial this week.

Harcus Parker says they have been unfairly exploited since 2016, forced to pay an additional 2.29% compared to the bank’s standard variable mortgage rate.

If the no-win, no-fee group legal claim is successful, Harcus Parker expects the average compensation claim to be between £20,000 and £30,000.

Mr Riley is calculated to receive about £27,000.

After Northern Rock’s collapse, and his 2012 divorce, the Somerset resident struggled to keep up with his mortgage repayments.

Mr Riley now lives in a one-bedroom property

Eventually, he found himself in negative equity to the tune of more than £3,000 when he finally sold the house earlier this year, and now lives in a nearby one-bedroom rented flat.

“I paid all that money and got nothing for it,” he said. “The cost got higher and higher and higher, and I could not really afford it by myself.

“Here and there I just kept falling short of paying it, and the debt got bigger and bigger.

“In the last few months I just didn’t have enough money as the interest kept going up. I could not really afford to do any painting or maintenance, and it was in quite a bad state when I sold it.”

Mr Riley’s repayments rose from £850 a month to £1,200 in the months before he sold the house, and he spoke of the stress of coping with the costs after a bowel cancer diagnosis that required surgery six years ago.

“It was really tough at times,” he said. “Being in this mortgage black hole placed a strain on me at the time.

“I try to look on the positive side of things, but it wears you down.

“I had good days and bad days, but then I lost my dog, that was a setback because she was one of the reasons I was getting out and about and meeting people. You go into your shell then.”

Matthew Patching, partner at Harcus Parker, said: “This trial represents the first significant step towards compensation for our clients, who have paid very high interest rates on mortgages for a significant period of time.

“It’s not just about the money; our clients feel very strongly that there should be recognition that they’ve suffered a terrible injustice.

“Anyone who is, or has been, a mortgage prisoner is still able to join our no-win, no-fee group legal claim.”

Harcus Parker represents a total of 15,000 mortgage prisoners who had their loans sold to various lenders by the government.

The law firm has set up a dedicated website for those wishing to make a claim, at harcusparker.co.uk/campaigns/mortgage-prisoner-litigation.

Meanwhile, people like Mr Riley live in hope the court case can bring some hope to his situation.

“The money would make quite a lot of difference to me,” he added. “It would make things more comfortable.”

A spokesperson for TSB said: “This is a hearing for the court to determine some specific issues that have been raised as part of Harcus Parker’s legal action relating to Whistletree mortgage terms and conditions, in advance of any final trial.”