Concerns raised over loss of ATM
Customers will have to travel to other branches
Concerns have been raised over how the closure of a Perth Post Office will impact on the community of Letham.
With the branch on Rannoch Road set to close on Friday, March 30, the only ATM in the Fair City which accepts Post Office bank cards will be removed at the end of the month.
Once this ATM is removed, residents who have a bank account with the Post Office will only be able to take out money over the counter in Post Offices outwith the Letham area, such as Oakbank, Muirton or Craigie.
Councillor Lewis Simpson, who ran the Scone Post Office for 27 years, said he is concerned on how this closure will impact on the most vulnerable residents of Perth.
Cllr Simpson said: “The people with Post Office card accounts are the people who don’t have bank accounts so it tends to be the most vulnerable people who have these cards.
“You can only use them in a Post Office and you can’t use it in a regular cash machine - the only one is in Letham.
“I understand that Letham paid [out] between over the counter and the cash machine, £10m a year. That is a lot of The Letham community could be massively impacted by the closure of the post office
money.”
While a replacement Post Office is found in the Letham area, residents will need to make the journey to a nearby branch.
The Lib Dem representative said this will not work for residents who are not physically able to make the journey: “Some of the people might not have access to cars and might not be mobile, so they will have some difficulty.
“I have a little bit of concern about money laundering if people give their cards to someone else to take to the
Post Office for them. It is fraught with difficulty, but if you are immobile it may be your only way of getting money.
“I know from bitter experience it does not pay to run a Post Office any more, but it is the less well off and less fortunate people in Letham that it will impact on.”
A spokesperson for the Post Office has suggested residents in Letham who need to use their Post Office account should travel to the Oakbank Post Office over a mile away to use their over-thecounter service.
The spokesperson said: “We understand how important Post Office services are to communities, which is why we’re very pleased that we have an interested party who is progressing through our recruitment application process for Letham Post Office.
“Should the branch need to close temporarily, we are very sorry for any inconvenience this might cause. In the meantime, all of our customers, including those who use our Post Office card accounts, will be able to access the full range of everyday banking services over the counter at any nearby branch, including Oakbank, Craigie and Muirton.
“Our Oakbank branch is even open seven days a week, between 6am and 11pm, making it more convenient for customers to access their cash at a time that suits them.”
Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, said: “The removal of the last ATM in Perth to accept Post Office accounts is totally unacceptable. I will be writing to Post Office Ltd to see if there is anything that can be done to help save this service, regardless of their plans for the Post Office service itself.
“Many people rely on a Post Office bank account and if the Post Office counter is to move then people will be rightly concerned about how they access their money.”