Dashwood: Santander shareholders sweep the board with £19k Oscars perk Mean banks madden Sir Meryvn Tight-fisted banks, watch out. Sir Mervyn King is losing patience with institutions that refuse to lend to small businesses and is encouraging customers to "try new lenders," such as Sweden's new UK export Handelsbanken. The Bank of England governor has entered the fray after being contacted by Midlands manufacturer Mike Benson, whose request for £10,000 to buy a new transit van was turned down by Bank of Scotland - despite his business being profitable. "I can understand how maddening the behaviour you describe from the banks you have spoken to must have been," replied Sir Mervyn in a letter published in The Oldie magazine. Your experience is common to many of the companies I have visited recently. Time for Bank of Scotland to rethink? Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has left the Qatari royals distinctly unimpressed by his no-frills airline service. Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, a frequent flyer around the UK and Ireland to watch his string of racehorses in action, once braved a Ryanair journey from Ireland to London. It seems the experience was rather traumatic. When asked by a racing associate if he had ever flown with the budget carrier, the young sheikh shuddered: "Once, and once only."