Why can’t RBS keep its pledges like us?
BARCLAYS is not the only villain when it comes to closing branches this year. NatWest, part of taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, is also quietly chipping away at its network as the Hampshire community of Fair Oak is finding to its cost.
Like those protesting against the Barclays closure in Sawston, Cambridgeshire, the residents and shopkeepers of Fair Oak are refusing to let NatWest close its part-time branch without a fight. The branch shuts in July and then Fair Oak will be bankless.
A 1,100-name petition has been compiled, local Liberal Democrat MP Mike Thornton has criticised the closure and meetings have been held with RBS bosses in Southampton nearby. Leading the fight are Jason and Ros Judd, who own the Oven Door Bakery and who bank with NatWest.
‘As a bank it claims to put the needs of customers first,’ says Ros, 48, ‘but it isn’t prepared to take any of our concerns on board. It is ignoring the fact we have a high population of elderly people, many uncomfortable with online banking.
‘It fails to acknowledge that a number of local businesses pay in takings whenever the bank is open on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They’ll now have to go to the nearest NatWest branch in Eastleigh, five miles away.’
Ros adds: ‘For a long time we were told the branch would not shut as it was the last in the community. It was a promise we trusted just as we promised to repay our loan when we took on the bakery ten years ago. We kept ours. Sadly, NatWest is breaking its promise.’
NatWest says the branch is closing due to a decline in usage, but Ros says: ‘Our bakery is next door. We see the footfall. It is a busy branch and a vital cog.’