The elderly ‘are being disenfranchised’
WHEN a local bank branch closes, it causes widespread inconvenience as customers – businesses and personal – are forced to change the way they bank, either by travelling further afield or signing up to online banking.
But when a bank decides to shut branches within a short distance of each other, it adds to the pain.
This is exactly how Jim and Sheila Robinson feel having just been told their local NatWest branch on Canvey Island, Essex, is due to close in May – as well as the next nearest one in Benfleet, also shutting in the same month. It means that they will have to travel to Basildon – a half hour’s drive away – if they want face-to-face banking from NatWest after May. Jim, 75, and 74-year-old Sheila have banked with NatWest for nearly 50 years. They use the Canvey Island branch either to shift money between accounts or more recently to arrange the purchase of a caravan.
Jim says: ‘I accept that online banking is here to stay but it is not for us. There are many local businesses on Canvey Island which rely on the branch. Then there are the elderly like us. We are being disenfranchised.’
Gerry Goldner, a 77-yearold retired sales engineer, is a customer of the NatWest branch in Benfleet. He says: ‘We have lost Barclays and HSBC already. When NatWest goes, we will be left with only a TSB. It is a shame the banks’ management cannot bang their heads together and run shared branches.’
Baroness Altmann, a former Minister, says: ‘Closing bank branches on a massive scale is not in the interest of customers. Of course, it saves costs for the banks but it takes away a vital service for many people who are unable or unwilling to bank online.’