Town told local bank is now in a different country

WHEN most people need to visit their local bank, they simply pop down to their high street.

Not so for Natwest customers in Chepstow, South Wales who, to their astonishment, have been informed they will have to go to another country when their branch is closed down.

They have been told their accounts are being transferred to England later this year, or more specifically, Thornbury, Glos, on the other side of the River Severn, which will require a 20-mile round trip and a £5.60 bridge toll.

David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth, said customers were furious, and he is due to meet with senior Natwest representatives this week to discuss concerns over the closure.

He said: “I realise there has been a big increase in online banking but there are still many tasks, such as paying in money, which are best done faceto-face.”

Last year, more than 800 branches of the UK’S biggest banks were closed. Critics say the closures are a huge blow to shopkeepers and small businesses as well as low income and elderly customers who depend on public transport or do not have internet access.

Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns Natwest and which was bailed out with £46billion of taxpayers’ money in 2008, is still 71.5 per cent-owned by the public. It shut 244 branches last year and has earmarked another 197 for closure this year – including 20 in Wales.

The bank said transactions in Chepstow had fallen by 43 per cent since 2010, with only an average 24 customers using it on a weekly basis.

Armand Watts, a county councillor, said: “It’s absurd. Chepstow is the wealthiest town in Wales – I don’t think the bank has really thought this through. They’ve looked at a map, seen it’s in Wales and thought let’s get rid of it.”

RBS said the number of customers using Natwest branches had dropped by 40 per cent, while mobile transactions had increased by 73 per cent.