Northern Rock investors, ranging from the hedge funds that gambled tens of millions of pounds on the bank’s recovery to a woman who inherited 1,000 shares from her grandmother, will pile into the High Court this week to challenge the government over their right to compensation.

With demonstrations planned for some of the same Northern Rock branches where customers queued to withdraw their money in Britain’s first bank run in more than a century, the case will undoubtedly raise fresh questions over how the government responded to the crisis.