‘Just so short-sighted’
FURIOUS customers blasted Lloyds when it axed the last bank branch in town in Wilton, Wiltshire, as part of its drive to cut costs.
It means users must travel almost four miles to Salisbury for basic banking – hitting shopkeepers as well as vulnerable elderly people who are unable to drive.
In a statement justifying its decision to close the branch, Lloyds said that it was used by only 27 customers on a regular weekly basis.
However, the lender admitted that 2 0 people went in most months – and added that 241 customers used only the Wilton branch and had no other method of banking.
When the closure was announced, town mayor Peter Edge said that bosses had helped kill the branch off by slashing its opening hours from five to three days a week in 2015.
The move sparked protests from customers at the time.
Councillor Edge added: ‘This is a terrible thing as Wilton is on the up. I think it is short-sighted.’