Anthony Stansfeld, police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley, claims the government is sitting on 'overwhelming evidence' of forged signatures

A top police chief has claimed that banks are forging signatures on an industrial scale, as he accuses the government of sitting on 'overwhelming evidence'.

Anthony Stansfeld, police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley, has slammed the Serious Fraud Office, the Financial Conduct Authority and the National Crime Agency for not taking appropriate action.

He says they've been aware of falsification of documents for eight months and have not yet taken any action - despite calls earlier this year for Parliament to intervene.

Mr Stansfeld told The Times: 'They sit on things and pass the buck so no one takes responsibility. The documents put in front of courts and claimed to be genuine are in many cases forgeries.

'Not only are the signatures of the bank officials forged but customers' signatures are forged. Bank statements and other documentation is altered to the bank's advantage. A mass of irrefutable evidence for this has been with the SFO for eight months, and as far as I am aware, [they have done] nothing about it.'

It comes amid claims in July that staff at a state-owned bank forged signatures on documents used to repossess homes and recover debts.

The signatures reportedly appear on legal papers such as witness statements that have been used in court hearings by UK Asset Resolution.

The documents were used to seize debts owed to Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley and Mortgage Express, campaigners told the BBC – with Lloyds also accused of the practice.

The news comes amid claims in July that staff at a state-owned bank forged signatures (stock image) on documents used to repossess homes and recover debts

Lloyds strongly denied the claims and UKAR dismissed them as ‘totally false’

But in July, Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke, who sits on the Treasury committee, called for Parliament to investigate.

If proven, it could constitute contempt of court. ‘You can be jailed for it,’ he said. ‘We need to know how widespread this is.

Examples of alleged forgeries have been shown to handwriting analyst Adam Brand, who has disputed the ‘movement and the fluency’ of some of the signatures.

The example signatures were provided by the Bank Signature Forgery Campaign, founded by Julian Watts.

He has compared the practice to the ‘robo-signing’ scandal in the US, when lower-paid staff at banks signed piles of repossession documents without having properly read them. Banks were fined $25 billion (£19 billion) in 2012 and had to pay damages to millions of victims who had been illegally repossessed.

Mr Watts said: ‘People have been evicted from their homes because of these signatures.’

He and Mr Stansfeld met the NCA to discuss the issue last month, and Mr Stansfeld has also said he will ask the Serious Fraud Office to investigate.

A spokesman for the SFO told The Times it will be assessing whether it should investigate, and the NCA said the allegations are 'considered by other agencies'.