Bank campaigners say fight not over

Banking: Closures scheduled to go ahead despite local protests

Campaigners say the “battle is not lost” to stop branch closures despite the RBS cull of Tayside and Fife sites gathering momentum.

Pitlochry will today be the second location in Courier Country to lose its RBS branch in this round, ahead of a flurry of closures next month.

Demonstrators challenged RBS chief executive Ross Mcewan as he arrived at the taxpayer-owned bank’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh yesterday.

He told protesters that he “understands” their concerns but refused to commit to any change to the closure programme, according to a Unite worker there.

Mary Alexander, deputy Scottish secretary at Unite, vowed to fight on, saying the bank’s claims over branch footfall and digital alternatives are heavily flawed.

“I don’t think the battle is lost because there are still protests and we will continue to campaign against these closures, because it is devastating for Pitlochry and Aberfeldy and many places across Scotland,” she said.

Kinross was the first RBS branch this year to be sacrificed when it shut up shop last week, ahead of the pending closures in Montrose (June 6), Aberfeldy (June 7), Dundee Stobswell (June 20), Bridge of Allan (June 21), Perth South Street (June 27) and Dunblane (June 28).

Comrie has been given a reprieve pending a review of footfall.

The Courier launched its Save Our Banks campaign last year, fearing the impact on society’s most vulnerable people and hard-up small businesses.

Jennifer Head, a Maryfield resident who has banked with RBS for 50 years, said the closure of the Dundee Stobswell branch is “absolutely scandalous” given how many people rely on it.

“I really feel it’s going to have a big impact on the local businesses,” she added.

“Stobswell is going downhill as it is and I can’t see how this is going to help.”

RBS says that customers who are losing their branch will still be able to perform some tasks locally at mobile banks, post offices and cash machines.

A spokesman for the bank has said: “We’re providing our customers with more ways to bank than ever before – they can choose from a range of digital to face-to-face options.”

gmcpherson@thecourier.co.uk

Picture: PA. RBS executive Les Matheson, second right, speaks with protesters on arriving at the bank’s AGM.