A STUDENT has blasted call centre handlers who refuse to believe he is a bloke.

Steven Dennis, 23, has a high-pitched voice and is often mistaken for a female on the phone.

Last week his Santander bank account was frozen after call handlers doubted him.

The 5ft 11in lad was forced to go to his local branch to prove he is male to unblock his account.

Last year Steven of Chelmsford, Essex was also blocked by Barclays despite passing all of the security questions.

He said its call handlers now have a note on his account warning them he sounds like a woman.

Steven has had similar issues booking taxis and paying gas bills.

He sought medical help but hormone level tests revealed no abnormalities and voice therapy failed to change his pitch. It is believed his feminine voice is due to tightness of muscles around the voice box.

He said: “On the phone its very difficult. I’m 23 but I sound prepubescent.”

Steven said he felt “humiliated” by the latest incident and filed a complaint to Santander.

He explained: “The woman who took the call said, ‘you don’t sound like a Mr Steven Dennis’. I understand the reaction but it gets tiring and it gets me down.”

Santander said: “We have apologised to Mr Dennis for the experience he received. It was certainly not our intention to cause any offence.”

The incident came just days after transgender woman Sophia Reis was left in tears when her bank account was frozen because she sounded “like a man” over the phone.

The 47-year-old was left “humiliated and embarrased” after banking staff said she failed security checks because she didn’t speak “like a lady”.

Sophia, a customer service advisor from Nottingham, was forced to go to her local Santander branch to confront staff after the telephone ordeal.