Hundreds unite against Lochinver RBS closure
ANGRY Lochinver residents have vowed to fight a move by RBS to close its branch in the port later in the year.
Three hundred local people have signed a petition set up earlier this week opposing the closure which would leave the area without a bank.
Newly elected SNP MP Dr Paul Monaghan and other political leaders are calling on RBS to reconsider.
Jeanette McCarthy, a director of
Assynt Trust and crofting administrator with the Assynt Crofter’s Trust, denounced the closure decision as “outrageous”.
She told The Northern Times: “At the end of the day, the bank will do what it likes, but we are not giving in quietly.”
Two jobs will be lost to the north west Sutherland community with the shut down on 17th August.
RBS announced last Thursday it was set to scrap a number of its Scottish branches including another two in the north, at Invergordon and Lybster, and two in the islands – Stromness in Orkney and Brae in Shetland. Only four years ago Brian Hartzer, former chief executive of UK Retail, pledged that RBS would not close branches where it was the only bank left in a town.
RBS has said that ATMs would be retained in the affected communities and agreements had been reached with local post offices allowing customers to check their balance, and deposit and withdraw funds.
The bank described it as a “difficult decision” and cited a number of reasons, including a rise in online banking and falls in the number of transactions taking place in the branches.
RBS stated: “We are committed to following the UK government protocol on branch closures and we have made
the decision following careful consideration of a wide range of factors including branch usage and the alternative ways our customers can bank with us locally.”
Ms McCarthy disputed RBS’s claim that the Lochinver branch, which operated five days a week, was underused. She said: “I’m in there at least twice a week on banking business for the Crofters’ Trust and every other business in Lochinver goes there to check in their takings. If there is no bank, what are we going to do? “It is outrageous and devastating for the community.
“Who would want to open a new business here if there is no bank?”
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Ms McCarthy said a petition had been started up and local people were signing it in droves.
“Everybody is backing it – whether it goes anywhere or not. At the end of the day RBS is a bank and can do what it likes.”
Another furious Lochinver resident, Angus McEwan, has written to RBS chief executive officer for the north and northern isles, Martin Girvan, to express his disgust – and copied it to the NT letters page (see P25).
Mr McEwan states: “How do you think I should feel about losing one of the few once immutable feeling limpets left on our remote Assynt rock?
“If RBS had remained ‘tweedy’, old fashioned, Scottish and reliable, you wouldn’t be sending out this damned letter. You, in Edinburgh, should be ashamed of yourselves.”
MP Dr Monaghan said that he had written to RBS after being informed of the closures and would also be writing to Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, to insist that the position was reversed.
He said that the UK Government, as
the majority shareholder in RBS, should uphold its responsibilities to the
people of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
MSP John Finnie has also written
to RBS and is seeking Scottish Government support for the retention of the branches.
Rob Gibson, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross-shire, has also condemned the three closures in his constituency.
He said: “The closures in Lochinver, Invergordon and Lybster come at a time of huge bonuses for RBS top brass, a fraction of which would keep local branches open.
“Certainly people are changing their banking habits by going online in some circumstances.
“However, I believe it is time for the communities across Scotland to set up local banks and give RBS and other huge banks a message that loyalty to their brands has gone.”
Councillor Maxine Smith, leader of the Highland Council, is working to have the decision reversed.
She said: “Not everyone has access to online banking.
“People really need to be able to have physical access to a bank without the cost and inconvenience of travelling to another town.”
