Demonstrations staged over branch closures

Protests in Kirkcaldy and Dundee

Protests have been held in Tayside and Fife calling for the Royal Bank of Scotland to halt its branch closure programme.

Unite staged demonstrations at sites across Scotland yesterday, branding RBS pledges to focus on “rebuilding trust” and “supporting our customers” as “shameless PR spin”.

Fife has seen RBS disappear from the likes of Elie, Aberdour, Crail, Kelty, Newburgh, Cowdenbeath, Cardenden, Dalgety Bay, Leven, Kirkcaldy, Cupar and Anstruther.

Activists gathered outside the RBS in Kirkcaldy and John Gillespie, from Unite’s Fife branch, said they had the support of many customers.

“RBS has closed many branches in Fife, in wee villages and towns, and what they’ve been doing is saying: ‘We’ll shut Cardenden, you can go to Cowdenbeath’ and then ‘We’ll shut Cowdenbeath, you can go to Kinross’ and now they are planning to shut Kinross.

“People are having to travel 20 or 30 miles and it’s the most vulnerable in society who are having to spend more money just to do their banking.

“They’ve said they’ll give a reprieve to 10 banks in rural areas but that’s not good enough – they have to reconsider their position.”

Protesters were also outside Stobswell’s RBS branch yesterday to demand it is spared the axe.

Bob McGregor of Unite Scotland said: “Stobswell is a high-density population.

“A lot of older people live here who rely on having a branch. Businesses here too would have to keep more cash on premises which would increase risk for them.

“The public owns this bank and they are just not listening to anybody.

“These closures are ripping the heart out of communities.”

Colin Clement, chairman of Stobswell Community Forum said: “The reality is this closure is going to affect the very people who are least able to handle it.

“This is a busy branch so we can’t understand the footfall numbers being quoted by RBS.”

Dundee East SNP MP Stewart Hosie added: “It doesn’t make sense to the local community to shut this branch.

“It’s not long ago there was a TSB here and an old Dundee Savings Bank before that. Almost every bank had a branch in this area and now they are falling like snow off a dyke. This is almost the last bank branch in this community.”

Branches in Montrose, Aberfeldy, Pitlochry, Dunblane and Perth’s South Street also face the axe.

Picture: Kim Cessford. Protesters by the RBS branch in Albert Street, Dundee.