Not everyone has the resouces to bank online

IALWAYS like to get there early before the bank opens. It means I become one of their first customers, and can be seen in time so that I can catch a bus soon afterwards. For as the hour of 10am approaches, the queue grows. And as one we are wondering why the branch doesn’t open until that time these days.

Didn’t it used to open at 9.30am ? Or 9 am? Why as well do they now shut at 2pm rather than 4pm? Also, why are they no longer open on Saturdays? The reason given for reduced opening hours is of course Covid. But I’m not convinced that this is a satisfactory explanation.

For if the building is safe to receive customers at 10am, then it was equally Covid-secure at 9am, as it will be at 4pm. Really, it is all part of the banks’ desire to try and reduce the number of branches they have, as they encourage us to do our financial transactions online. Trouble is, not everyone has the resources to do so. Even amongst the technologically minded there have those who’ve experienced serious glitches with online banking, making them want to see someone in person across a traditional counter.

What’s more the queues outside all banks before they open, a feature ever since the first lockdown in March last year, gives a lie to claims that people don’t use branches today, the excuse given as to why they’re disappearing en masse from the British High Street.

Mind you, banks have long been institutions that don’t necessarily put the customer first.

I remember when we left Grimsby in 1974 and looking for an alternative to the Grimsby Savings Bank where my money was then lying. In the end I settled for the Anglia Building Society (now part of the Nationwide) as their branches opened on a Saturday morning; Monday-Friday opening was no good for me as I was at school during the day.

Let’s hope the pandemic hasn’t kicked out Saturday banking for good, as many would be seriously inconvenienced as a result.

Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.