A Perthshire resident claims that planned cuts to opening hours at her local bank branch amounts to “death by inches”.
Sheena Leszke from Aberfeldy worked at the local Bank of Scotland in the 1970s and said she regards plans to reduce its availability to just two days a week as “short-sighted”.
The cuts there follow a loss of bank services at branches in Blairgowrie, Coupar Angus, Auchterarder, Crieff, Pitlochry and Scone.
All of these branches will cut their opening hours as of December 7, with Aberfeldy set to only be open two days a week , Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Mrs Leszke said she feels the Aberfeldy branch will eventually close.
“As a Bank of Scotland ‘pensioner’. having worked in this branch all through the 1970s, I am saddened but not surprised as branch after branch is wound down,” she said.
“It is death by inches and undoubtedly Aberfeldy Bank of Scotland will eventually be closed.
“It is short-sighted, putting profit before serving the community, leaving small towns and villages with no services altogether and completely ignoring the fact that older people, and probably many younger ones too, still want the face-to-face contact with a human being when they are carrying out financial transactions.
“We can now have contactless credit/debit cards another step towards being a totally contactless society.”
Local politicians have expressed their anger over the cuts to other bank services, which will include the closure of the Royal Bank of Scotland branch in Alyth in November.
John Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, and Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, both said the loss of the Alyth branch will be a “blow” for the town.
A spokesman for the Bank of Scotland said: “In October last year we did announce planned branch closures.
“However, this review is not part of that process but rather something that was previously, and continues to be, part of the way we manage our business on an ongoing basis.
“These changes are to ensure that our branches are open at the right times for our customers in each individual location and in some cases enable us to increase the number of colleagues we have in our busiest locations.”