Banking giant Lloyds has been criticised for a "crass" suggestion that islanders should be willing to take a ferry to put a cheque in the bank.
The company is to shut Bank of Scotland branches in Lochmaddy in North Uist and Tarbert in Harris as part of swingeing cuts that will affect 17 communities in small towns and villages across Scotland.
Regions to be hit include Fife, Highland, Aberdeenshire, Borders, Stirling, Perthshire, South Ayrshire and East Lothian. The cull will start on October 2 with the branch in Cupar, Fife closing.
Customers living on the island of Berneray, between Harris and North Uist, who don't have their own transport, will face a 60-mile return trip by bus to access their nearest bank in Benbecula.
The Bank of Scotland has also listed the branch in Portree in Skye and another in Stornoway, as alternatives, prompting anger from Angus MacNeil, MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar.
The Tarbert branch is scheduled to close on February 22 next year with the Lochmaddy branch shutting four days later.
READ MORE: Full list of Virgin Money bank closures as 39 set to shut
Bank of Scotland say 71% of customers in Lochmaddy and Tarbert already use other ways of banking, such as mobile, internet or phone banking and say physical transactions at these branches fell more than 59% between 2017 and 2022.
However, Mr MacNeill says he will continue to press the company to retain them.
He said: “The closure of these branches will adversely affect Bank of Scotland customers especially those who are not able to use online banking services or do not have access to private transport.
“I have recently been contacted by constituents in North Uist who are concerned that the Lochmaddy branch is going to close.
"Customers living in Berneray, who do not have private transport, will have to make a 60-mile return trip by bus to access the bank in Benbecula.
"The Bank of Scotland has listed the Portree branch along with the Benbecula and Stornoway branch, as an alternative branch for customers.
"It is crass to suggest that customers should take a ferry to access a bank."
READ MORE: City ministers to warn banks over 'disproportionate' closures
Which? suggests banks and building societies have closed, or have scheduled to close, a total of 5,838 branches since January 2015 as more people go online to manage their money.
A Bank of Scotland spokesperson said: "The local Post Office in each town offers everyday banking, alongside other ways to bank, such as over the phone and online.
"After the branches close our Community Bankers will be on hand to support customers in each area.”
Meanwhile, Richard Tomson, SNP MP for Gordon, in Aberdeenshire,has held talks with senior managers at Virgin Money to discuss the closure of branches in Turriff and Ellon, which has been a fixture in the town since 1877.
He said: “The closure announcements are obviously a blow to the communities concerned and I was keen to explore with the bank what options had been considered prior to their announcement.
“Chief among these was the practice adopted by Santander and Nationwide of maintaining a branch presence but reducing the counter opening hours and having staff assist with call centre queries and internet banking whilst based at the branch."
He said he was also seeking assurances that an ATM will be maintained in Ellon.
He said: "While there are – currently – a number of free-to-use ATMs around the town, there is only one located in the town centre.
"Most of these are provided by US-based private companies and there has been an alarming trend recently for other providers to introduce charges for withdrawing cash.
"Free cash withdrawals are important."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel