Complaints to the financial watchdog by Bradford people soared by 80 per cent in 2012/13, the Telegraph & Argus can reveal.

The Financial Ombudsman Service received more than 17,000 enquiries and 3,574 new cases from people living in Bradford, an increase of almost 80 per cent on the 2,002 in 2011/12.

The most complained about financial product was 2,599 about Payment Protection Insurance, which was far higher than other issues including credit cards, current accounts, mortgages, and insurance.

The PPI complaints are more than double the previous year when they received 1,160 locally.

Bradford East MP David Ward, (Lib Dem), described the rise as “staggering” and said that he still heard from people who could not afford car insurance depending on their postcode..

“We try to offer support to people but financial institutions have got a long, long process and it can take a long period of time to solve this, regarding PPI.

“The scale of the problem is bigger than we ever expected.”

Alex Bohdanowicz, a specialist services manager at the Bradford & Airedale Citizen’s Advice Bureau, said: “We regularly see clients who have received unfair treatment by financial services, either by being missold products, harsh terms within agreements, and lack of help and high default charges.

“Undoubtedly PPI complaints are the most common, mainly due to the high profile of campaign and news items on this issue.

“We believe that the numbers shown are still the tip of the iceberg as people don’t always complain in writing or follow things through.

“We would strongly advise anyone who feels they are treated unfairly to put in a formal complaint in writing, first to the company but if this does not resolve the issue, do not give up and take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

“It is very worrying that so many cases, particularly PPI cases, which are often straightforward, have to go as far as the Ombudsman to be dealt with.”

The figures were published as part of The Financial Ombudsman Service annual review of 2012/2013.

During the year the ombudsman received more than two million enquiries and complaints from consumers with more than 7,000 each working day.

Natalie Ceeney, chief ombudsman, said: “Despite this huge increase in complaints from Bradford, we’re aware that there are still many people who do not know their rights if they have a money problem.”