UK Inactive Accounts and Currency Exchange

My husband is going to be returning to the UK in about 5 weeks.  And we need some advice.  First, background.

He had an account with NatWest that was used last in 2002 when we sent his mother travellers cheques in GBP to pay off his overdraft.  He has tried to call and get info on the account/change the address/etc, but they asked him for his favourite word.  He opened the account more than 10 years prior and had no idea what his favourite word was at 13. 

1) Does anyone know if his account is likely to still be active?  The balance was less than 1 pound after we paid it off.

2) He will need access to money within a couple days of getting there to pay deposit and 1st months rent on a room.  I'd like to send him with 600GBP and was thinking of just buying travellers cheques.  The bank should deposit these like cash, right?  Assuming his account has been closed and he needs to open a new one, can he cash the travellers cheques first and just pay in the minimum required to open an account?

I had a question similar to this: I left a Natwest account with a little bit of money in it (less that L20). There is no way I would close it after everything I went through to get it open. But will it be ok being inactive?

The account should still be open... i'm pretty sure that Nat West dont send accounts to 'dormant' status until it's been out of use for 5 years.

Thank you Quarter-Gill - I was trying to find that time frame.

Since posting this morning I learned that he can activate internet access to his account and he tried.  But since he didn't have his telephone security details they are posting him the activation code.  Only we don't know where it is going! 

The good news is, since the website gave us a customer number for reference it means his account is still active.  He called to confirm this.

If we can get the internet access working (to confirm account status, etc) it might be easier to transfer money into the account via xe.com or another currency exchange company.

Thanks! Great to know I won't have to go through all that hastle again! What happens when it goes to dormant status?

With Nat West (to the best of my memory!) when it goes to dormant, you cant re-open the account.   If the account had any money in it, you can make a written application to get the money out, but you would have to start again and open a new account if you want an account.

So if in three or four years if I haven't used it and I transfered a little bit of money into it, that would make it active, right?