Glenrothes and Central Fife MP Peter Grant has joined others to condemn TSB’s announcement of 73 branch closures across Scotland. Mr Grant says that TSB has delivered a “huge blow” to our communities by announcing closure of half of their branches in Scotland, which includes their Buckhaven branch––one of the two surviving TSB branches in his constituency.
Peter Grant MP says that, in an email sent to him by TSB, they try to suggest that the Buckhaven branch has only nineteen regular customers. The Buckhaven MP say that he finds this “hard to believe” and has written to TSB’s Scottish Manager asking him to justify these figures.
Commenting, Peter Grant said:
“When TSB unveiled their new ‘strategy for future growth’ last year, they said that 82 branch closures would be announced in 2020, but insisted that they’d maintain a ‘geographically dispersed branch network’. They have, in the blink of an eye, abandoned that position and have doubled the number of branches that they’re closing.
“I know from previous closures by other banks that they will come up with the most extraordinary ways of defining "regular customers" to make that number seem as low as possible. For example, someone who visit two or even three times a month will be ignored, as will someone who visits one branch at their work and another from home.
"It's easy for the TSB to say there are other banks in neighbouring towns that people can travel to, but this will be of no comfort to residents in Buckhaven who are about to lose the last bank in town. The fact that TSB didn't even realise how much further they would have to travel to get to Leven doesn't exactly inspire confidence."