Half a day’s trip for cash

THE village of Welwyn in Hertfordshire will lose its last bank branch on March 29.

To get to the nearest bank after Barclays closes, residents will have to travel four miles to Welwyn Garden City.

Villager Sandra Kyriakides, 74, said: ‘Buses are every 40 minutes to Welwyn Garden City. A trip to the bank can end up taking half a day.’ Welwyn, which has 8,400 residents, has a Post Office, with limited cash reserves. Its owner Delene Miller, 52, said: ‘A proportion of the population do not use online banking and need banks. There is a need for ATMs and cash.’

A Barclays spokesman said last night that the bank would pay for an ATM to be installed in the village.