A colleague's husband had his credit card blocked by his English bank when he travelled from England to Northern Ireland. He was hiking in an area with limited

A colleague's husband had his credit card blocked by his English bank when he travelled from England to Northern Ireland. He was hiking in an area with limited phone signal, so he phoned his wife (it was a joint account) and she tried to unblock it. The call centre employee said it was because of unexpected foreign travel. It's easy to believe the call centre person is ignorant. It's not so clear why the anti-fraud department of one of Britain's largest banks should think the same.