Campaigners to challenge TSB over Thurso customer numbers
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
TSB managers will be challenged over the number of customers making regular use of the closure-threatened branch in Thurso at a virtual meeting with local campaigners this week.
It comes after Ron Gunn, chairman of Thurso Community Council, and Iain Gregory, co-founder of Caithness Roads Recovery (CRR), conducted a survey outside the branch in the town's Traill Street.
Between 10am and 12.30pm on Monday, Mr Gunn and Mr Gregory made a note of the number of people entering the branch and using the TSB cash machine, and spoke to a number of customers who voiced anger and dismay at the closure plan.
The bank announced in November that it will shut its Traill Street premises in April as part of plans to axe 70 branches across the UK. TSB bosses say there has been declining branch use and increasing numbers of customers changing to digital banking.
During the two-and-a-half-hour period on Monday, Mr Gunn and Mr Gregory counted 56 customers entering the bank and 55 people using the cash machine.
Highland councillor Matthew Reiss was told in December that the branch was reduced to one regular weekly customer before the closure was announced. When he questioned the "specific metric" on which that figure was based, he was told it was used by the banking industry "to measure vulnerable customers who rely on an individual branch" and that "a regular customer is therefore someone who used the branch 48 out of 52 weeks of the year".
The campaigners intend to take issue with this "specific metric" at their meeting on Friday with TSB management and will be pressing for a rethink on "this ill-advised decision".
Mr Gunn said: "Myself and Iain spent two-and-a-half hours on Monday outside the TSB in Thurso. Lots of folk came and spoke to us, all very unhappy about the closure. Comments included 'it's a disaster', 'it's disgraceful', 'we are gutted' and 'no thought for the customers'.
"Many remarked about not wanting to use online banking or being unable to access the internet. Some said, 'It's ridiculous – we will now have to go to Inverness to access a proper branch.'
"Many said they only work with cash or 'where do we cash our cheques now?' and several customers were in to close their accounts. Some had moved from the Clydesdale to TSB and now have to move again.
"Even though it was a really cold day, it was worth standing outside to hear what people had to say. A big thank-you to everyone who stopped and spoke.
"During the time we were there, 56 customers entered the bank and 55 used the cash machine. So much for TSB quoting one regular customer a week.
"We have a virtual meeting with TSB managers on Friday and we will be hammering home what the customers told us."
Customers praised the "fantastic" staff at the Thurso branch and spoke of their "devastation" at the planned closure.
Helen Bain, of Mayfield Road, Thurso, who was accompanied by her husband Donald, said: "It is vital for me to be able to get over-the-counter help. I am disabled and am simply unable to use online banking."
June Bain, of Caledonian Place, Thurso, said: "The staff are so nice, and soon there will be nothing left."
Ian Maclean, of Reay, described the plans as "a disgrace" and added: "They are killing off the high street."
Business owners pointed to the practical problems when "so many local people prefer to use cash or cheques".
Mr Gregory said: "CRR is now developing into 'Caithness Roads TO Recovery'. We will be robustly challenging public and private sector organisations and fighting for Caithness on numerous fronts.
"We consider it vital that local banking services are preserved. The banks need to accept that it is not all about pure profit – they have a social duty as well. And, for a bank which announced a statutory pre-tax profit of £157.5 million in 2021, simply abandoning the entire far north is not acceptable."
Councillor Matthew Reiss, who represents Thurso and Northwest Caithness on Highland Council, said: "In the short time I was speaking with another customer earlier this month outside the TSB, there were three elderly customers in the branch. They had the look of 'regular customers' to me, rather than visiting tourists who tend to be thin on the ground on cold February mornings.
"I am using figures here, but every customer is an individual and I hope at our meeting with senior TSB managers on the 25th they recognise this, forget the pound sign and put people first."
TSB says it will provide a pop-up service in Thurso one day a week.
Speaking last week, a spokesperson for the bank said: “We have not taken the decision to close the Thurso branch lightly, but we have to respond to declining branch use and increasing numbers of customers switching to digital banking services.
“Customer transactions at the branch have fallen by 48 per cent over the last two years and we see no prospect of branch transactions returning to pre-Covid levels.
"In communities like Thurso, where it takes longer to get to the nearest branch, we are introducing a pop-up service which will be available in the town once a week to support customers with their banking needs.
"For customers wanting access to cash, they can do this at the post office at Meadow Lane or the ATM at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Both these facilities are less than a mile from the closing branch.”
The spokesperson added: "At pop-ups, TSB advisers provide face-to-face support, including making payments, providing product information and helping customers get started with digital banking.
"We are still looking to identify a location but these tend to be in popular locations already used by members of the local community for other services like town halls, libraries, places of worship or community centres.
"Customers will be able to do most of the things in a pop-up that they can do in the branch, with access to cash needs being met by the post office and ATMs."
The Thurso closure means there will no longer be a TSB branch in Caithness after the bank pulled out of Wick in March last year.
Councillor Reiss has pointed out that some customers make a 50-mile journey from north-west Sutherland to do their banking in Thurso.
Related stories:
- Thurso TSB closure is a disgrace, say Caithness couple who have been customers for 60 years
- Thurso 'worthy of being an exception to the rule' as TSB is urged to think again on branch closure
- Thurso TSB branch reduced to 'one regular weekly customer', say bank bosses
- Call from Thurso Community Council to fight the planned closure of TSB branch in the town
- Shock for Thurso as TSB announces branch closure plan
