There have been an increasing number of lawsuits over that kind of thing and banks have been settling rather than risk losing. Also, enquiries into bank overcharging have been generating some very negative conclusions about banks.
Charges are supposed to "reflect" costs, and are not supposed to be grossly overstated. If they are, it's very likely breach of contract under the Unfair Contract Terms Act (1977 I think) and you could well be entitled to a refund of most of that .... AND damages.
If I were you, I'd write a polite but very firmly worded letter of complaint to the bank about that and, if you get nowhere, get some legal advice. Oh, and the charges can be over a period of up to about 6 years, that being the limit on suing over civil matters in England and Wales (but it may be different in Scotland).
so i promptly paid them over the phone via debit card. The funny thing is the card transaction would have cost them more than the ammount was worth 
