HIS ID card was sufficient for Pole Robert Grudzinski to be let into Britain without a passport, allowing him to find work at a North Yorkshire pub.

But when landlord John Marrison wanted to open up a current account for the kitchen porter so he could pay him, he was told that the card - laminated and stamped and containing the Pole's photograph - was not good enough for the bank.

The amazed publican said staff at the bank in York told him that the card was too easy to forge, and they would require a passport. They also believed every other bank in York would say the same thing.

Mr Marrison, who runs the Three Hares at Bilbrough, between York and Tadcaster, said: "There's something wrong somewhere.

"How can something be good enough to get into Britain, but not good enough to open a bank account?"

He said it was either too easy to get into the country, or too hard to open an account. The landlord said that he had had to make arrangements to pay Mr Grudzinski's wage into another member of staff's account, so that he could then pay over the money to the kitchen porter in cash.

He added that he had taken on the Pole because of difficulties in finding a British worker locally who was able to live in, and work the hours required. He said Mr Grudzinski, a good worker, was sending money home to his wife in Poland.

A Home Office spokesman confirmed a proper Polish ID card was considered sufficient by the immigration authorities to serve as proof of identity and nationality, and would entitle him to be admitted to Britain.

Asked to comment on the fact that it was good enough for them, but not enough for him to be able to open a bank account, he said: "That's a matter for the banks."

A spokesman for the British Bankers' Association said today that banks had been required for about ten years to ensure that customers had proof of their identity and address.

But it was down to individual banks to decide what documentary evidence was needed. He could not say how many banks would or would not consider an ID card sufficient; nor could he comment on the immigration authority's belief that an ID card was enough to allow someone into Britain.

Updated: 10:03 Monday, March 21, 2005