Bank customers endure long waits
TSB bank has apologised after customers had to queue for hours outside its two open Taranaki branches yesterday while New Zealand remains in lockdown.
Queues began forming outside the New Plymouth central branch on Devon St East before 8.30am, and there was a similar situation in Ha¯ wera.
Under Government guidelines, banks are able to open for limited hours and days while the country remains at coronavirus alert level four.
The two TSB branches are only opening on Monday mornings.
While some customers complained about the extended waiting time to do their banking and questioned why more branches were not open, others patiently waited their turn.
Police cars regularly cruised past the New Plymouth branch keeping an eye on the crowd.
TSB chief executive Donna Cooper said the bank would be opening a branch in each region it operated every Monday morning from 9am-12pm.
Next week, because of Easter Monday, the same branches would be open on Tuesday morning.
Cooper said she was confident the wait times were under two hours and two-metre distancing rules made lines look longer.
‘‘In such an extraordinary time it’s difficult to anticipate how many customers will visit our branches – today the number was very different from last Monday,’’ she said.
Cooper said both branches were open until about 12.30pm.
‘‘Throughout the morning our people triaged customers to ensure elderly or compromised people were served first.
‘‘We’re really sorry people had to wait and are grateful for their patience and understanding.’’
Eltham community board member Lindsay Maindonald said he got to the Ha¯ wera branch just before 9am to find about 30 people queued up already.
Maindonald was concerned at the lack of personal protective equipment being worn by people waiting and believed it should be made mandatory.
‘‘Everybody going into a bank should be at least wearing a mask, if not gloves as well.’’
He also wanted to see more branches open to ease the congestion.
In New Plymouth, Dion Chard, of Blagdon, said he and his partner had been waiting for more than two hours and were taking turns standing in line.
Chard said the bank needed to open other branches around the city on alternative days to cut the numbers converging on one site.
Craig Pigott, of New Plymouth, said he believed the bank had under-estimated demand.
‘‘A lot of us don’t have internet banking because we don’t trust it,’’ Pigott said.