Customers have been warned they could face a long wait to reclaim bank charges.

A High Court judge ruled yesterday that charges for unauthorised overdrafts are subject to regulation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

The case was jointly brought by the OFT and seven high street banks and a building society to clarify the law after consumers began to reclaim millions of pounds of charges through the courts, many thanks to The Argus's Beat The Banks campaign.

Mr Justice Andrew Smith agreed with the OFT that the charges were covered by the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulation 1999.

It is not a final judgement on whether the bank charges are fair but it does mean the OFT will be allowed to assess the terms and conditions of charges for fairness.

The decision paves the way for a further hearing in which the court will decide whether the charges are unfair and, if so, what a fair charge should be.

However, industry experts have warned that banks are likely to appeal the decision to the House of Lords, meaning customers may have to wait until 2009 before their claim is heard.

Among them is radio producer and teacher Marcus Patrick, who accrued £840 in bank charges after a payment went into his Natwest account a day late, causing a series of direct debits to bounce.

Mr Patrick, who used to present a show on Brighton station Juice FM, said: "I'm a freelancer at the moment so the money is coming in sporadically and things are tighter than they were before, especially with the rise in the cost of living. The extra charges make life even harder.

"I hope this issue gets sorted out sooner rather than later but I imagine if the banks do have to pay out they will find other ways of getting their money back, like ATM charges."

Natwest recently sent Mr Patrick a letter offering him a new service, where for a monthly £10 fee they would charge him £17 for a bounced direct debit payment rather than the standard £38.

He said: "It's really a warped insurance scheme. £17 is still more than it costs the bank in administration costs."

All refund applications were put on hold when the OFT test case began in January, but it is still possible to submit a claim to your bank. If the banks lose their case they will have to start processing the claims again and those already submitted will be towards the front of the queue.

Nationally, customers have reclaimed around £1 billion in bank charges, though it is thought the banks have collected that amount in charges since January.

It is thought customers could be eligible to claim back up to £9 billion.